Full Moon Typhoon
by Don't Preach
Summary: Sitting on a park bench, locked in a moment of heartbreak, Hiroki encounters a stray black dog with a piercing blue gaze. But there's more to this big puppy than meets the eye. Inu Nowaki with a twist. AU and OC involved
1. 1: The Black and The Blue

**Full Moon Typhoon**

**Chapter One: The Black and The Blue**

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><p>Kamijou Hiroki was sitting on a bench in the park. It was nearing dusk and the lengthening shadows mirrored the darkness he felt in his own heart. Hiroki grimaced as tears welled in his eyes. His mind was still reeling from the terrible humiliation he'd experienced just hours earlier.<p>

Since he was ten years old, Hiroki had been in love with his best friend, and today, at the age of twenty-two, he had finally confessed his feelings.

_Well okay, maybe it wasn't exactly a confession._

But he had offered Usami Akihiko, the man he loved, his body as a stand in for another man, one Takahashi Takahiro. A man Akihiko also loved in an unrequited manner.

Hiroki had been sure that the weight of his flesh against Akihiko's, his burning touch, would be able to communicate the depths of his feelings. And he'd foolishly convinced himself that once Akihiko felt this, Akihiko would surely turn his affections away from Takahiro and reciprocate.

However, it had turned out he was mistaken. He'd given Akihiko his body (his heart and his mind had belonged to his friend for years already) and the man had walked away after they'd fucked offering no words except a request that Hiroki leave him.

_ The bastard's sperm wasn't even cool on my thighs before he dismissed me._

To say he was crushed wouldn't even begin to cover the extent of what Hiroki felt.

A brusque swipe of the back of his hand across his watering eyes did not dissuade the gathering tears; instead it seemed to only encourage them.

Hiroki was at a complete loss for what to do now, he had determined his love for Akihiko was over the moment his unrequited had pushed him off and walked away. Now he was floundering, trying to desperately determine what he was going to use to fill the space that his love for Akihiko had occupied in his heart.

_Maybe I'll just apply myself more to my studies,_ Hiroki thought.

He had just started his graduate track in literature and was working as a T.A. at "M" University.

Hiroki sighed with the terrible realization that at this moment, even the idea of literature offered him no solace. He was berating himself internally when all of a sudden a strange noise caught his attention.

Hiroki looked up and was startled to see a large black dog, rather wolfish in its appearance sitting in front of him. The first thing he noticed was that despite the animal's dark color, the dog had amazingly intense blue eyes. The next thing that caught Hiroki's attention was the beast had something in its mouth. The sound that had caught his attention initially was the animal trying to pant around this.

Upon closer inspection, Hiroki ascertained it was some kind of toy rocket. How in the hell the dog had gotten a hold of it was anybody's guess. The graduate student sniffed loudly and made another pass with his hand to wipe away his tears.

The dog tipped its head to the side as though studying him. This movement jingled the worn tags it sported on a beat up-looking old leather collar.

The sensation of being scrutinized by so humble a beast made Hiroki decidedly nervous. He had never been much of an animal person in the first place. When the hound continued to sit there, regarding him with its unblinking blue eyes, Hiroki flapped his hands at the creature.

"Shoo! Go on!" he growled loudly.

Unless Hiroki's eyes were playing tricks on him, it seemed as though his outburst amused the dog. Its panting grin widened and a thick fan-like tail began to suddenly thump happily against the ground.

Hiroki's breath caught in his throat as the dog suddenly stood and began to pad towards him on its huge paws. The black beast walked straight up to him stopping less than a foot away. Here it seemed to pause and study him again for a minute.

Then without further ceremony, it dropped the rocket at Hiroki's feet. One good nudge of the cylinder with a shiny black nose pushed it forward, making clear the dog's intention that Hiroki should have it, just in case the man harbored any doubts.

Looking down at the slobbery missile and then back up into the hound's cool blue eyes, Hiroki frowned.

"I said go away," he growled again, though there wasn't nearly as much snarl in his voice as he'd hoped.

At his words, the dog sat down again, its tail taking up once more its canine cadence. A stiff breeze wisped suddenly past, ruffling the creature's shaggy black coat.

Hiroki fiercened his scowl at the dog. In response it merely thumped its tail a bit stronger.

_I always knew that animals were dense, but this is ridiculous._

_Speaking of dumb animals._ Hiroki sighed as a chubby middle aged man, suddenly shouted out at him as he strode over to the bench.

"Hey, you there! That your dog?" The man called out drawing nearer. His expression was rather fierce. "Stupid thing stole our rocket!" he shouted.

At these words the black dog stood and with surprising speed bolted, disappearing into some nearby bushes.

The man finally reached where Hiroki had remained sitting. "You know it's against the law to have a dog off leash! I mean the fine for that is huge and your animal could be confiscated!"

Hiroki looked up, face impassive. "Not my dog," he said simply. He did however reach down and pick up the sodden missile between gingerly pinched fingers.

_After all, who knows what kind of germs an animal like that might be carrying._

"Here," he offered the rocket, knowing he was being rude by not standing and acknowledging the man properly, but the guy had been rude himself by shouting at him in the first place. Besides Hiroki's heart was feeling so heavy, he didn't know if he even had the strength to stand at the moment.

The fellow took the rocket with a look of distaste. "You know you're lucky I don't call park security and report you!"

Hiroki's forehead furrowed. _What part of "not my dog," did this guy not understand?_

Hiroki sighed and repeated, "That thing's not mine."

"Yeah, right!" The man standing before him sneered. Then he turned his eyes to the sky for a moment before looking back at Hiroki with a renewed expression of accusation.

"You know you're lucky; my friends and I were almost done with our launching. The wind's getting too strong to keep things on course. Once this storm really moves in it's just going to get worse."

The way the guy said this made Hiroki feel as though he was now somehow now being held responsible for the weather too.

The pseudo astronaut looked at Hiroki once more and then snorted in disgust when the graduate student didn't respond to his comment. Finally he turned and began walking away. "Besides, it's getting dark and I don't know anyone who is an idiot enough to stay in the park after sunset these days."

Hiroki watched the man disappear and breathed a sigh of relief once his portly figure had disappeared in the distance. Another gust of wind plucked at his jacket. Hiroki raised his eyes to the quickly darkening sky and thought about what his accuser had said.

He supposed he should head out too, the guy was right; a storm was moving in quickly and the light fading in its wake. The park had already been abnormally quiet, which was one of the reasons he'd had sat down where he did.

There had been a rash of violent killings that had occurred in the area over the last several months. The authorities had been very closed mouthed about the details but Hiroki had read the presses' whispers about terrible mutilations.

But so far the deaths had only happened under the cover of darkness, so Hiroki had figured he would be safe as long as the light lingered.

Lowering his tear-weary head into his hands, Hiroki closed his eyes. Despite the crisp edge to the breeze he didn't mind it.

_Maybe it will blow some of the cobwebs out of my brain and I'll be able to think a little more clearly. _Behind his closed lids, Hiroki listen to the wind rattling the early spring-budded branches. Whistling through them, the sound was actually rather soothing.

Though Hiroki knew instinctively it was time to get up and move on, he allowed himself another five minutes to rally.

_After that I'll go home,_ he promised

Home.

_Home to what?_ _A shabby apartment filled with books and little else._ He had few friends and even fewer visitors.

_And now that I've so so fucked things up with Akihiko…_

_You need to get off your ass and stop feeling sorry for yourself,_ Hiroki chided himself.

Still he didn't move. Instead his mind continued to drift in the comforting blackness of his closed eyes.

"Just five more minutes," he said out loud this time.

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><p><strong>I'm sure you smart readers can see where this is going already… But I have wanted to do a fic like this and since I finished College Daze today… well, even though I know I shouldn't be starting anymore stories I did. <strong>

**As always I love hearing from you… so please review.**


	2. 2: Heart Attack

**Yes, this is me and more of my crazy re-uploading. **

**Also just so you know, I now have a tumblr account where I will be posting all of Don't Preach's, Daniel Lazerus', and Cerberus Revised's fan fictions as a back up in the event of another FF purge. The account is under daniel-lazerus. **

**I actually really like the formatting and there are few AN's, so it's a nice, clean read. Hope to see some of you there.**

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><p><strong>Full Moon Typhoon<strong>

**Chapter Two: Heart Attack**

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><p>From where he lay crouched in the bushes the dog watched the man on the bench. He had observed him put his head into his hands and then after a few minutes, gradually slouch over to the side. He knew immediately that the subject of his scrutiny had fallen asleep. The dog was quite content to simply lie and watch for some time: the man seemed so peaceful.<p>

Then something shifted and a low whine built in the animal's throat. The hound felt its hair unconsciously bristle.

It wasn't safe here and the man was vulnerable.

Rising, the dog moved out of the bushes. He padded softly over to the bench, his delicate senses attuned to the world around him. His keen nose caught the scent of the human's despair. That was what had drawn his attention in the first place, but under that the animal had also smelled goodness as well.

A wistful canine gaze scanned the sky looking for the dark eye of the Great Wolf, now that its bright eye had shut. The sky Wolf's pale orb was open full tonight, but this watchful stare was somehow not as comforting as usual.

Willful winds whipped up carrying strange scents that made the hound shiver. He knew he needed to get the man up and out of the park and he needed to do it soon.

The dog tried all the various tricks he knew for a kind rousing: a gentle tug on a cuff, a cold nose in the palm, low growls and light whines. The dog cocked its head beginning to pant, curious as to why it was so hard to wake the man. He didn't smell ill and he certainly wasn't dead.

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><p>Hiroki felt himself pulled back into consciousness by the kiss of a few warm drops of moisture against the skin of his cheek. Before he opened his eyes, he felt the hard slats of the bench beneath him and the brush of a strong wind over the top of him. He realized he must have fallen asleep in the park and, being an incredibly sound sleeper, imagined it had taken a light spring sprinkle to wake him up.<p>

Hiroki opened his dark eyes slowly and then suddenly started in fright, realizing to his disgust it was not a gentle rain at all that had awakened him.

_Fuck! It's that damned rocket-stealing dog!_

The beast had its head hanging over his and it was flecks of the dog's slobber that he had been feeling on his cheeks.

"Gahhh!" Hiroki shot up. The hound reeled back and withdrew, standing a few feet away.

"What in the hell?" Hiroki yelled, "I thought I told you to piss off!" he wiped his tear and now drool-stained cheek with the back of his hand.

Pointed black ears fell and a long tail curled under at his angry tone.

Seeing the mournful look in the dog's blue eyes, Hiroki felt the burner on his anger turn down from a boil to a simmer. He rubbed the back of his neck where it was stiff from the unusual position he'd occupied for… Hiroki looked down at his watch.

_Damn... an hour and a half._

Now that he was awake, Hiroki was aware of two things. The first was how cold the increasing wind was and he pulled his coat tighter in response. The next was how dark it had become.

Hiroki knew it was supposed to be a full moon for the next few days, but this was currently hidden behind the storm clouds. He looked over at the nearest path light, never having realized before how minimal the glow from these fixtures was. Hiroki got up nervously, grabbed his book bag from where it had been sitting under the bench, and began walking, following the trail towards the park's exit.

He stopped and turned when he heard a low whine behind him. Hiroki saw the dog a few paces back.

"I said go home!" Hiroki barked in a whispered shout. Then he realized how foolish this was: there was no one else in the park at the moment, it seemed, but him. Given the constant motion of the city, this absence of people suddenly struck Hiroki as profoundly eerie.

This encouraged him to begin stepping again, his pace measured if perhaps brisk. Hiroki felt his nerves jangling like the tags of the dog padding behind him. Twice more at the annoying sounds of the hound's increasingly loud whining, he stopped and tried, unsuccessfully, to drive the beast away. Each time the dog cowered at his furious rantings but refused to flee.

Hiroki was nearing the park's exit when he stopped cold. The hound's high pitched noises had suddenly switched to a lower tone...

_ That's definitely a growl. _

Slowly, he turned towards the sound. A soft groan of terror escaped Hiroki's throat when he beheld the dog, its sharp white teeth bared, hackles raised, pupils dilated.

"Fuck!" Hiroki breathed.

He cursed himself thinking how flippant he'd been earlier about the possibility of being attacked. He scanned his surroundings looking for a weapon, something he could wield or at least throw and he damned the grounds' keepers for keeping the park so immaculate. There wasn't even so much as a loose stone he could lob. Then he looked down nervously at his book bag.

"Easy," Hiroki murmured softly as he began to slowly slide the strap off his shoulder.

At this word the dog's growl deepened. Hiroki felt his balls draw up. The animal was now shaking and white foam had begun to gather at the corners of its mouth. He heart pounded now as his body dumped a huge dose of adrenaline into his veins.

"Good dog," Hiroki soothed. He was shocked by the squeak in his usually low voice. He jumped when the hound suddenly started barking furiously.

The jolt of the dog's hoarse cries was enough to finally throw him into action. He dropped the strap of his bag from his shoulder ready to swing as he spun on his heel to run hoping he could at least make it to the entrance of the park, as though that was some kind of magical boundary the hellish hound couldn't cross.

He had no sooner turned to run when he felt the side of the dog's furry body brush against him, knocking him forcefully to the side.

Hiroki watched in absolute terror as the mongrel's lean, black frame collided with the creature that had been silently charging behind him.

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><p>The dog had sensed the abomination long before he had seen it. Soon he could smell its foul scent and knew that it was stalking the man from the moment they'd left the bench.<p>

When he finally saw it, they had almost reached the street. It had been crouched in a bramble of evergreen bushes not far from the park's entrance. The hound knew it was waiting for the man to pass by and that it would take him down without hesitation.

Despite the terror he felt in the presence of the other beast's incredible power, something in the man's sorrow had bound the dog's heart to him from the first moment he had seen him sitting on the bench. So there was no way now that he could let the man be injured. He'd growled his intentions to the creature initially. Then, when it had crept from the bushes and begun to lope towards them, he had tried to bark out a warning to the man, but it was obvious in an instant the human had no understanding of what was happening.

His desire to protect suddenly flashed larger than his terror and he launched himself at the creature, knocking the man off to the side in the process.

Deep chests collided with a loud thud.

The hound was lucky for the beast rarely met any other animal opposition and the attack had actually taken it by surprise. Canine teeth closed on the fetid fur of the abomination's neck and it screamed in rage at the pain of the vise-like bite. The black mongrel howled through clenched jaws as the burn of razor sharp claws rakd his belly.

He released only long enough to seek a deeper grasp.

A shrieking whine torn from the hound's throat as the creature's contorted anatomy allowed it to swing its head and iron jaws suddenly clamped down on one of the his forearms crushing the bones.

Bloody jaws slackened slightly as the dog's sight began to blur and the light fade. Over the sound of the beast's furious screaming and his own weakening whines he heard the clatter of feet and the harsh barks of other human voices. Deep in his canine soul, the hound prayed they were close enough to save the man of his heart.

This was his last thought as the beast's furious convulsions finally shook him loose and sent his bleeding, black body crashing to the ground.

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><p><strong>Just in time for Halloween. Heh.<br>**


	3. 3: Howl

**Full Moon Typhoon **

**Chapter Three: Howl**

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><p>Hiroki watched the two beasts' collision and subsequent battle with stunned a horror his rational mind was having difficulty even acknowledging. Locked in battle with the dog now was something that defied definition, something that simply could not exist.<p>

Once Hiroki understood, however, that what he was witnessing was real, the second wave of emotion that surged in his chest had to do with the dog.

_That "thing" was rushing towards me._

He realized now that the mongrel's growls had not been meant for him at all and that the animal had been trying to warn him. Even more mortifying was that this creature he had tried to drive away repeatedly, had leapt in to protect him.

Hiroki stood immobilized, watching as his guardian fought valiantly against a monstrosity twice its size, an opponent that was now literally ripping the life out of the it as a result of its actions.

While the conflict between the two animals only lasted for a few brief minutes, witnessing the bloody clash it seemed interminable, as if in slow motion.

Then Hiroki saw the dog hurled to the ground. The incensed beast stalked over, obviously intent on finishing the poor ravaged animal off. The sight of this returned action to his paralyzed body.

"Hey! Dumb-ass! Over here!"

Hiroki could hardly believe what he was doing but before he knew it he'd pulled a book from his bag and hurled it, striking the creature's broad, furry side. The thing turned its head slowly, its unusually hued eyes fixed on him.

Hiroki felt his bladder slip as the thing's pupils turned to pinpricks at the sight of him. A slick black tongue licked out over bloody teeth as the beast opened its pink-foamed jaw and roared in response.

Still on the ground where he'd fallen, Hiroki scrambled back, crab-like, another book clenched in his hand. He knew it was foolish to hold on to it: there was no way a mere novel, however thick, was going to dissuade a monster like that, but still, it was the only weapon he had.

The creature seemed to understand this, as it began to pad closer in languid strides. Hiroki could smell death clinging to the beast's matted fur. The thing stopped just a foot from his bent legs and Hiroki found himself immobilized once more with terror.

Black lips pulled back on the beast's bloody muzzle, the creature roared again. Flecks of spittle spattered Hiroki's pantlegs.

Something in the creature's shriek jarred him and Hiroki regained his motion again. He pulled back his arm and as hard as he could he threw the book he'd been holding, white-knuckled. It struck the beast square between the eyes. The monster drew back at this, obviously shocked at the blow. It glared down at the open book, lying face down at its feet and then back up at Hiroki.

One huge, fingered paw slid forward, more than covering half the book. This held it in place, as the other paw ripped through the loose part of the text with razored claws, more effective than any shredder. The monster then leered up at Hiroki. Hiroki's jaw dropped seeing an intelligence far above beastly, glinting in the creature's eyes.

"Show off," Hiroki muttered, knowing the display was done in demonstration of what would be happening to him in mere moments.

The beast cocked it's head at this quiet response, as if it had expected a more violent protest from its prey.

It wasn't that he didn't want to live. In fact, Hiroki had never wanted to persist more in his miserable, pain-filled life than at this precise moment. But after dedicating his recent years to the study of literature from the era of the samurai, the fuck if he was going out shrieking like some B-movie maiden.

Plus he was pissed that the beast had wrecked a perfectly good book: one that he was regretfully never going to get to finish now.

Hiroki felt every muscle in his body tense as the beast's body did likewise before him, readying to leap. Despite the fact he understood completely that he was going to die, no doubt painfully, in a moment, Hiroki suddenly felt oddly peaceful. This gave him courage and he narrowed his light-brown eyes and stared at the demon creature before him, intent on meeting his fate head on.

Suddenly the beast's head whipped back as a cacophony of steel-toed shoes calttered around the trail's head.

"Hey! What's going on there!" an authoritative voice barked. A crew of park security had heard the dog's furious barking and the beast's roar and come running to see what was going on.

Another voice shouted, "Fuck, there it is!"

The creature screamed in fury at being disrupted. It swung its head back around and its furious eyes glittered madly at Hiroki. Then it did something completely extraordinary, it stepped up closer to him, its muzzle all but touching the fabric of the shirt covering Hiroki's low belly and inhaled deeply, as if committing the man's scent to its memory. It then turned on its clawed feet and fled the scene, tearing off into the darkness as half a dozen angry men chased after it.

Several others rushed over to Hiroki, who sat there blinking dumbly unable to process what had just happened.

"Are you okay sir?" a number of voices chimed in at once.

Hiroki felt so strange, it was like being pulled into wakefulness from the most intense dream. He wanted to stand but the brush with death had robbed his lean legs of their strength. His gaze drifted as he felt two men begin to lift him, looking for injuries.

Hiroki's sharpening eyes fell on the dog then, lying there forgotten, a wide swath of earth dyed black with its blood beneath it.

"Let me go!" He shouted as he lunged forward, scrambling over to the hound on wobbly legs. Hiroki fell to his knees beside the black, broken body.

"Oh, fuck!" he breathed seeing his savior's state. Bones protruded from its shattered foreleg. Hiroki felt his gorge rise as he saw the bulge of viscera between the gashes where the creature's talons had raked the animal's soft belly.

Looking down a bit further, Hiroki couldn't help but notice the dog was decidedly male.

"Oh, Kami-sama... I'm so sorry, boy" Hiroki choked. Just because he didn't like animals didn't mean he was heartless. And besides, he was overwhelmed by the dog's sacrifice. If it hadn't been for his actions, he would have been dead long before anyone could have reached him.

Tears filled Hiroki's eyes. Then he heard a soft thump and then after a few seconds another. Hiroki turned his head just in time to see another weak wag of a mud matted tail. Seeing this, without even thinking, Hiroki pulled his jacket and his dress shirt off.

"What are you doing?" a voice above him asked roughly. The stunned security personnel had gathered round him.

Hiroki felt a strong hand grab his arm pulling him back.

"Come on, we've called an ambulance and they'll be here soon. We need to send you to the hospital and see that you get checked out and that you're really not injured."

"Plus we'll need you to make a statement and answer some questions about what happened." Another voice sounded.

Hiroki jerked his arm free. He slid his shirt under the dog and wrapped it around, doing his best to bind the dog's lean belly and keep its organs from slipping out further.

"I'm not going anywhere or talking to anyone one until my dog's fixed!"

The dog offered a weak whine as it was shifted. "I know, guy, I'm sorry." Hiroki soothed. He pulled off his tee-shirt too, wrapping it as a makeshift cast around the bloody weeping wound on the hound's foreleg.

"Look buddy, that dog is waaay past help," one of the officers said gruffly. "I recommend you just take a walk with officer Meiko there and I'll make sure he doesn't suffer any more pain."

Hiroki looked up into the man's calm face. Then he turned back to the dog. The wind howled through the trees suddenly and the sky opened up and fat drops of rain began to fall. Hiroki noted the dark chest heaving, the fast, shallow respiration. His rational mind told him the guard was right, he should just leave and let the officers take care of things.

Then he felt a kiss on the back of his hand that wasn't a tear or a raindrop. A pink tongue licked out again gently, anointing his hand still resting lightly on the dog's wrapped foreleg.

Sad blue eyes regarded him and if Hiroki had been the type of man to believe in such things, it would have seemed to him as though the dog was granting him permission, offering forgiveness for what it knew was going to come.

_Ridiculous! _

Still, something in those eyes touched Hiroki in a deep place he'd never known before. He drew a deep breath and, going against everything he'd ever been taught about respecting authority, he rebelled.

"No, I'm not leaving!" he howled. "I have to try and save him!" Hiroki turned to the man standing beside him. He felt his pride shatter.

"Please," he begged, his eyes welling with tears. Around him the wind moaned adding its plaintive wail.

"Captain," a mild voice spoke beside him. "Please, turn this man and the dog over to me and allow me to help them. I will take full responsibility."

"No, Sato-kun, that's impossible. I can't allow it."

Just then another one of the group that had gone after the creature came sprinting back. "Captain, I think we have it cornered over on the south side but we need more men!"

The captain looked at Hiroki and the officer who'd offered to help him. "I will hold you responsible, Sato-kun. Completely responsible," he said sternly.

"Yes sir!" Sato answered he dropped to his knees beside Hiroki and stripped off his jacket sliding it under the wheezing dog's body.

"Put yours under too," Sato advised. Hiroki did so, glancing up only briefly to watch the other men dash off as a piercing shriek sounded in the distance. Both men and the dog involuntarily shivered at the sound.

Hiroki continued shivering as the rain started falling harder. His trousers were soaked now and his bare torso frigid, as the wind continued to grow stronger.

"Grab that end," Sato ordered. "We'll carry him to my car and I know an emergency vet clinic not too far from here we can take him to. Okay?" the man shouted above the whipping winds.

The two started off using their coats as a make-shift slings. Together they carried the weakly whimpering dog to Sato's patrol car and gently laid him in the back seat. Then Sato climbed into the front while Hiroki sat in the back of the car with the dog. Its large shaggy head lay panting in Hiroki's lap as he leaned over keeping pressure on the bloody fabric over the hound's belly.

Sato started the car and immediately turned on the heater as he could hear Hiroki's teeth violently chattering.

"Quite the storm," Sato offered trying to distract the man from the softly whining, bloody, black form in the backseat. "Who knew we'd have a typhoon in Tokyo!" he joked lamely as he pulled the car out into traffic.


	4. 4: Rapid Heeling

**Full Moon Typhoon**

**Chapter Four: Rapid Heeling**

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><p>As Sato sped through the streets carrying his blood soaked cargo, despite his high speed, he still somehow managed to pull out his phone and call ahead to the vet's and let them know they were coming in with an emergency.<p>

"How's he doing back there?"

'I don't know," Hiroki replied truthfully. "He seems to be breathing a little easier, maybe."

Sato looked back at Hiroki in the rear-view mirror and raised his brows in an expression of disbelief.

A few minutes later the car pulled up next to the clinic. Sato opened the door and helped Hiroki lift the dog out. This time the animal didn't whine when they moved him. He just lay there in the sling of the coats as they carried him in.

They were met at the door by a handsome blond wearing a serious expression. It was obvious Sato knew the vet. "Ochi-sensei," the young officer greeted.

Dr. Ochi nodded. "This way!" he directed. "Hara-kun, come help!"

Another young man emerged from the back. He stepped over and took Hiroki's end of the sling from him. The traumatized graduate student watched as the three other men carried the dog into an examination room and lay him down on a table.

"What happened?" Ochi eyed the blood-soaked shirts with professional concern. "Hit and run?"

"He was attacked by another dog," Sato offered.

"That sure as hell wasn't a…" Hiroki started but then stopped when Sato shot him a stern look.

"What's your dog's name, sir?" Ochi asked as his hand reached out towards his new patient.

Hiroki blanched at the question. He glanced over at Sato who was looking at him expectantly. Hiroki remembered that he'd called the animal "my dog" in the park and wondered if the officer would have willing to take the responsibility he had if he'd known otherwise.

Casting his trauma-taxed mind about frantically, Hiroki was at a loss. Just then gust of wind outside howled so loudly they could hear it inside the examination room and he suddenly recalled Sato's comment about the "typhoon" at the start of their journey to the vet's.

"His name is N- Nowaki."

"Okay, Waki-chan," Ochi soothed, petting the dog's huge black head. A heavy tail gave a few weary thumps in response to the soothing tone.

The vet moved to take a syringe and a vial from a nearby drawer and within moments administered an injection to the scruff of the dog's neck.

"This is going to make you feel sleepy, Waki-chan." Ochi set the spent syringe to the side and took a pair of scissors Hara held out. "Let's see what we got here."

As the vet cut the shirt off from around the dog's belly, he asked, "Are his vaccinations up to date?"

Hiroki stammered, "I don't know. Why?"

Ochi frowned at this. "Sato-san, do you have the other animal in custody."

"No, not at this time," Sato hedged.

"Hara, grab that collar and run the tags through the computer," Ochi ordered as he began to peel back the blood soaked wrap.

The young assistant moved up towards the now sleeping dog's head and quickly unbuckled the battered, bloodstained collar.

The vet looked up at Hiroki gravely. "Look, Sir…"

"Kamijou," Hiroki offered.

"Ah, Kamijou-san, I don't know how to tell you this, but if you don't have the other dog and Nowaki's vaccines aren't up to date, I am afraid I am going to have to put him down, regardless."

"What?" Hiroki was shocked.

"I'm sorry, but that's the law in these matters: just in case there's any chance of rabies."

Looking behind the crimson stained wrap, Dr. Ochi sighed. "That would be tragic too, given your dog should easily survive these wounds, though of course he'll need some serious stitches."

The vet took the scissors and went to work cutting the tee-shirt off the dog's foreleg. "Does Nowaki have some kind of medical condition Kamijou-san? Though it looks like he's no longer bleeding too badly, that's a lot of blood for a flesh wound."

Then Ochi lifted one side of the hounds black muzzle. Noting the pink gums he offered, "Strange, it doesn't look like he's lost that much; his color is still good. I would have expected his gums to be white or at least pale, looking at the amount on your shirts."

"What are you talking about?" Hiroki suddenly shouted. He pointed at dark stains on the thighs of his sodden pants, "Blood was leaking out of his mouth on the ride here! His guts are poking out though the skin!"

Ochi looked at Hiroki curiously. "I am afraid, you're mistaken Kamijou-san." He pulled the wrap off "Nowaki's" foreleg and then reached back over and pushed the shirt around the dog's belly down so that Hiroki could see it.

Hiroki's eyes had already grown wide seeing the animal's limb. Where before there had been the white of crushed bone protruding, now there was just a deep gash glinting wetly but barely oozing. He turned and looked then at the dog's belly and saw the same.

"But…" Hiroki floundered. He turned and looked helplessly at Officer Sato. "You saw it, right?"

Sato looked at Hiroki perplexed. "Sorry, Kamijou-san, I don't understand."

"There were bones and viscera visible before… surely you noticed!" Hiroki cried in disbelief.

Sato shook his head. "I'm sorry, Kamijou-san. I came upon the scene a bit late. When I got there you had already bound Nowaki up and were talking with our captain." Sato looked at Hiroki kindly.

"You know you've been through a lot this evening. Perhaps in your worry things appeared worse than they were. I know if it had been my dog I might have done the same."

Hiroki frowned at this and his pride reared up at the comment.

"You make me sound hysterical. Which I am not." His tone as he said this was far more contained.

"Of course not, just concerned," Sato replied trying to soothe the obviously still-distraught man.

Just then Hara returned bearing a sheet of paper. "Here's his record, Ochi-sensei."

Ochi took the page with blood stained fingers. "Ah, wonderful! His rabies is recent." Reading further he frowned. "You're associated with the Kusama orphanage, Kamijou-san?" noting the name on animal's registry.

"Yes… uh well, I mean, no… not really. I… uh… just bought the do… I mean, Nowaki, from them recently," Hiroki lied lamely.

You must be quite an experienced dog handler to take on such a big puppy, especially here in the city."

"Puppy?" Hiroki couldn't help but gasp looking at the size of the hound stretched out on the table. Then seeing the curious looks the three men were giving him, Hiroki tried to save himself. "They told me he was full grown."

Dr. Ochi was reaching for some clippers Hara was now holding out. He traded the assistant the paper for them. "I can see how one might make that mistake given his size." The vet continued talking over the buzz of the clippers as he carefully shaved the dog's scored belly. "But his papers indicate he's not even a year yet. You know, dogs can grow for the first eighteen months of their life."

The vet paused the clippers and picked up a huge dark paw. "Looking at the size of these platters, I'd say your Waki pup here, still has quite a ways to grow." Ochi quickly returned to his task. "The registry has him marked as 'breed unknown,' but I'd venture he's Shiba mixed with something western… given his shape maybe Dane but more likely Mastiff."

Hiroki's head had long passed the spinning point._My life was saved by a puppy?_ He struggled to comprehend this. Everything about this day had been completely surreal and his overtaxed faculties could barely handle it anymore.

"Kamijou-san are you okay?" Sato asked worriedly as the bare-torsoed man beside him had suddenly grown deathly pale.

"I just need to sit down somewhere for a minute, please."

"Of course." Ochi knew that owners often got overcome when their beloved pets were unwell. "Hara, will you take Kamijou-san into the next room? You should give him a blanket, better yet, find him a spare pair of scrubs from surgery so he can get out of those wet clothes."

"Thank you," Hiroki breathed following Hara out on wobbly legs.

"Don't worry, Kamijou-san, I'll have your Nowaki stitched up in no time…" Dr. Ochi called out behind him as a very overwhelmed Hiroki left the room.

* * *

><p>It was nearly an hour later. Hiroki was still sitting in an empty examination room, only now he was dressed in a pair of clean, light cotton scrubs, a blanket around his shoulders and a cup of tea in his still shaky hands.<p>

Officer Sato had come in not long after he'd changed and told him he'd just been called and the situation at the park required that he return immediately. He looked very grave as he gave Hiroki a card and said they would need to get together later so that he could take his full report.

Hiroki had merely nodded at this and agreed. He really didn't want to talk about what had happened anyway. His mind was still reeling.

Now that he was feeling a little more like himself, Hiroki took his phone and called directory assistance. After processing his request the operator transferred him.

"Kusama orphanage," a weary voice answered.

"Um, yes… excuse me please," Hiroki started. "My name is Kamijou Hiroki and I have a dog that I understand belongs to you."

"What did he do now?" The woman's voice was suddenly tense. "Look, if you picked him up… just keep him, I'm not paying a fine every time he gets off of his chain."

"I'm sorry, I don't quite understand what you mean," Hiroki said clearly confused by what the woman had said.

"You're not animal control?" The woman suddenly sounded cautious.

"No… um."

"Kusama," the woman offered. "Look if he damaged anything...

"No, Kusama-san, I'm not animal control… and I met... or more like, your dog found me at the park, so nothing's been damaged." Then Hiroki thought of the dog's state. I mean, something has been damaged, but not by your pet. Your dog has been hurt… but apparently not too badly.

Hiroki was still struggling to reconcile what had happened there with the animal's wounds. "The vet says..."

"Look... I'm not paying any vet bills for care I didn't authorize," Kusama interjected abruptly.

Hiroki was rather stunned that the woman not only didn't ask about her dog's injuries, but sounded far more angry than concerned. "Ah... I understand and that's fine, I'll pay the bills. I just want to figure out the best way to get him back to you."

"Look, Kamijou-san, I'll be honest here. I don't really want it back," Kusama said after a long pause.

"What?"

"Someone dropped this little puppy off here a while back." She laughed bitterly. "We're an orphanage, not the pound, but I guess whoever had him thought one stray was the same as the next.

"The kids thought he was cute and they begged, so we kept him. Got him shots and a license and everything. And then within a few months we have this huge behemoth on our hands." Kusama sighed. "He's gentle and friendly but he's just too big to keep inside. That tail of his has taken out more than one toddler I can tell you.

Anyways, we've had to keep him chained up now for a while because of this, but he's smart and keeps managing to escape somehow. This last time he slipped off, well he's been gone about a week. All the children were so upset about it at first and they're just finally settling. I don't want to get them all stirred up again."

"But…" Hiroki was flummoxed by what the woman had just told him. "Then what do you recommend I do with him?"

"Keep him… give him to the pound… In truth, Kamijou-san I don't really care at this point, just don't bring him back here. I have forty kids I'm caring for currently, I don't need another overgrown four-footed child that doesn't know better than to wander off added to the mix."

Hiroki was silent a moment. He knew he couldn't take the dog, but the pound seemed so cold: the animal had saved his life after all, and his personal code of honor told him he simply couldn't just turn his back on such sacrifice.

_I can't keep him,_ Hiroki thought, _but at least he could stay with me until I found him a good home._ He knew what he was thinking was crazy, he knew absolutely nothing about dogs, but…

"Does he have a name?" Hiroki asked at last, figuring if he was going to house the hound temporarily he could at least use the animal's proper address.

"Inu."

"His name is just _Dog_?" For some reason, as a person who was building his life around language this offended Hiroki deeply.

"That's what the children called him when they saw him, so it just seemed easiest." Kusama sounded annoyed at having to explain herself. "Please tell me you won't try and return him, Kamijou-san."

"No, I won't be returning Nowaki to you, Kusama-san," Hiroki said quietly before he hung up. There was a measure of stern rebuke in his voice as he used the dog's new name.

* * *

><p><strong>Thank you for reading and please review.<strong>


	5. 5: Nesting

**Full Moon Typhoon **

**Chapter Five: Nesting**

* * *

><p>Hiroki stood in the elevator of his apartment building. He looked down at the massive black beast beside him. The dog looked up at him balefully from inside the milky-colored plastic cone that was strapped around his neck. Hiroki grimaced at the reproach in the sleepy blue eyes.<p>

"Sorry, Nowaki, but Dr. Ochi said you needed to wear that. He doesn't want you tearing at your stitches."

Hiroki made another face, he'd thought Dr. Ochi had been silly talking to Nowaki through his attendance. He'd figured the vet was doing it more for him than Nowaki: a tactic employed to soothe worried owners. Yet, here he was, not even with the dog for a full day and already he was doing the same.

_It must be the stress of what happened that's making me so careless._

However, almost as if he understood, the dog gave a short melancholic snort and leaned, cone and all against his leg.

With his pride, Hiroki sympathized, as if sporting all those newly shaved patches wasn't enough; in the plastic collar Nowaki looked ridiculous, like some canine space alien.

Within his cone of shame, Nowaki offered a yowling yawn. Hiroki thought he might have an understanding of how the hound felt there as well. He himself was completely exhausted after all the drama of last several hours.

Hiroki still couldn't believe that Dr. Ochi had sent the big puppy home with him. But after sewing up Nowaki's leg and his belly and with his vaccinations in good stead, the vet had told him, given the state of Nowaki's wounds, there was really no need to keep him.

Ochi had called a cab service he knew that accepted animal passengers and now, here they were, headed up to Hiroki's bachelor apartment.

The elevator door opened and Hiroki stepped out. When he moved, Nowaki almost fell over as he'd fallen asleep again against his leg.

Hiroki frowned and held the door open. Dr. Ochi had said Nowaki would be really sleepy for a while. "Come on, Nowaki." He pulled on the leash the vet had loaned him after he'd lied that he'd "lost" Nowaki's leash in the park during the attack.

Nowaki didn't resist, but Hiroki's light tug had not moved him either.

"Move it, guy, because there is no way in hell I am going to carry you."

The cone bobbed as the dog heaved himself up with a sigh and stretched forward slightly before padding tiredly out.

"Well, that's progress at least," Hiroki muttered digging in the pocket of the scrubs he was wearing for his keys. His jacket and his pants he'd left at the vet's to be disposed of: they were so bloody they would never come clean.

The two exhausted males traveled down the walkway to Hiroki's apartment. The still howling wind that coursed through the apartment's exterior walkway revived Hiroki a bit. He glanced at his watch. It was too late to call the building's manager and tell her about his unexpected "guest." He'd have to try and catch her in the morning and hope she wouldn't put up too much of a fuss about this temporary situation.

After opening the door to this apartment Hiroki stepped in. As soon as Nowaki was inside too, he dropped the leash, hung up his bloodied book bag, and kicked out of his shoes.

Nowaki waited quietly behind him.

Moving into the front room Hiroki looked around and sighed. He'd just recently moved into this apartment. It was much closer to "M" University than the one he'd lived in during the four years he had attended "T."

It was a two bedroom unit and he planned to use one bedroom as a library for his ever expanding collection of books. This spare room and the rest of the apartment were currently filled already with books, though these were still in their boxes. In fact at the moment, Hiroki's bedroom was the only room that was entirely put together.

Hiroki moved into the kitchen and pulled a cold can of tea from the fridge. He stared a moment longer into the cool interior as though that might magically make something interesting and edible appear. When it didn't he closed the door with a sigh.

Cracking open the tea he took a long drink. Then he glanced over at the dog. Nowaki was standing there still, regarding him with a rather mournful and intense expression. When he noticed Hiroki's gaze on him, his tail offered a few halfhearted sweeps before he settled down on his haunches.

Hiroki looked at the tea in his hand and then at Nowaki. "Manners," he muttered to himself. He dug around in an open box on the counter and pulled out a big glass bowl which he then filled from the tap.

"Here you go."

Hiroki set the bowl on the floor.

Nowaki looked at it and then back up at Hiroki.

"Aren't you thirsty?" Hiroki growled. He leaned down and pushed the bowl closer.

After another moment's contemplation, Nowaki heaved himself up and stepped over. He sniffed the water and then extended his long pink tongue. After the first lap, however, he seemed to realize he was indeed thirsty.

Hiroki watched as about half the bowl's contents disappeared, though looking at the amount Nowaki's slurping sloshed on the floor, he found himself wondering how the animal ever stayed hydrated.

The drink seemed to perk Nowaki up a bit, so, while Hiroki located a towel and bent down to wipe up the floor around the water bowl, he began a cautious exploration of the apartment. Hiroki kept his sharp eyes trained on Nowaki as the mongrel put his nose to the floor and followed an invisible trail, stopping here and there to sniff at various boxes.

"That's the smell of wisdom there, Dog. So don't you dare think of lifting your leg on it!"

_ My students will be doing that soon enough in my classes..._

Hiroki's tone was weighted with warning, even though he'd purposely walked the sleepy Nowaki around a bit before they came in, hoping that this would attend to all the hound's doggy duties.

At the sound of Hiroki's voice, the wide collar turned towards him. Nowaki regarded himthoughtfully; he wagged his tail again despite the harsh sounds as if to indicate his honorable intentions. Hiroki realized, thinking this, he was getting a firsthand experience of the word "anthropomorphism."

"Speaking of leg lifting," Hiroki mumbled as he headed in to the bathroom. Hearing himself say this he suddenly wondered if there a word for describing the reverse.

* * *

><p>Nowaki watched the man of his heart leave the room and it made him uneasy. Then his keen ears heard the stream and nose his acute smelled the scent urine from where he was. After a minute, however, despite knowing what the man was doing, Nowaki decided he didn't like having his new person out of his sight.<p>

He softly padded his way over to just outside the door the subject of his attachment had disappeared through.

Sitting down just outside the bathroom, Nowaki whined softly. He missed his person. His stomach and leg itched him fiercely too, where before there'd been such tremendous pain, and the strange thing around his neck prevented his from licking these.

While the dog still wasn't quite sure what happened after he'd attacked the abomination, since he'd returned to the world on that strange table he'd felt peculiar. His body was extraordinarily weary and there was a strange buzz under his skin, but more than that his thoughts somehow seemed different. Nowaki was pondering this, but when the man emerged again there suddenly wasn't room for any other thoughts. He wagged his tail vigorously to tell his new person how happy he was to see him again.

* * *

><p>Hiroki looked down at Nowaki and his rapidly tapping tail and frowned. "What's with you? I was gone for like two minutes."<p>

Hearing his words just seemed to make the big puppy's tail wag harder. Hiroki leaned down and picked up the leash still attached to Nowaki's collar

"Okay, come on."

Nowaki followed Him easily into the bedroom. Once both were inside Hiroki closed the door. He didn't want Nowaki wandering unattended around the apartment. He reached down and unclipped the leash from the collar. Then he stepped over to his closet and pulled out one of his older blankets, unfolded it a bit and spread it on the floor.

Nowaki looked at the blanket, then he looked at the futon, and then back up at Hiroki.

"No way! There's no way in hell you're getting in my bed," Hiroki said sternly. He pointed at the bed and pointed to himself, "Mine!" then he indicated the blanket on the floor."Yours."

Nowaki cocked his head to the side as he watched Hiroki pull his shirt off over his wild brown head. Then the man pulled back the covers and crawled into the futon, still wearing the scrub bottoms.

Hiroki closed his tired eyes and suddenly all the images from the attack at the park played behind his lids. He opened his eyes quickly to dispel these only to see that Nowaki continued to sit where he had been and was still staring at him.

His brow furrowed as he gazed into Nowaki's intense blue orbs.

"NO!" Hiroki shouted suddenly and pointed to the blanket again. "That's yours."

Nowaki shuffled over to the blankets then he moved past them to the edge of the futon. He lowered his cone-collared head and pressed a pink tongue to the back of one of Hiroki's hands.

Hiroki pulled his hand away with an expression of distaste. His brow furrowed anew. "Urgh! Nice try, Nowaki. Ask any of my dates... Oral attention will guarantee you access to my bed. Go lay down! Now!"

Nowaki regarded Hiroki sadly and then moved over to the blankets. He dug around in them for a minute making himself a comfortable nest. He turned around three times and then lay down with a deep sigh. He continued to stare at Hiroki, but Nowaki's eyes kept getting heavier and they eventually drifted closed.

Seeing that the dog had finally settled, Hiroki re-settled himself. He closed his own eyes again and this time, thankfully, sleep quickly overtook him.

His last conscious thought before Hiroki finally drifted off was that the one good thing had come from all he'd been through that night: it had been hours since he'd given even a moment's thought to what had happened earlier that afternoon with Akihiko.

* * *

><p><strong>Thank you for reading and please review.<strong>


	6. 6: Transitions

**Full Moon Typhoon **

**Chapter Six: Transitions**

* * *

><p>Dark shadows swirled, claws slashed, and razored jaws gnashed. The air was filled with screams, animal and other.<p>

Hiroki's dark eyes opened with a start; the howls that had filled his mind, replaced by the thundering of his agitated heart. It took a moment for him to understand where he was. Clutching the bedclothes of his futon closer to him, Hiroki, breathed a shaky sigh of relief when he realized it was a just a dream.

"What a crazy nightmare!" he muttered. "Screwing Akihiko, animal attacks, and miracle-healing, space-alien dogs."

Then his sleep-sandy eyes fell on the empty blanket lying on his bedroom floor next to his futon.

_It was all just a dream... Right?_

Suddenly, Hiroki felt the warmth heating his back and heard a light snore. Cautiously he raised his head and looked over his shoulder only to see he was top to tails with a huge, shaggy black dog stretched out alongside him: the cone ensconced head down near his feet.

"Hey!" Hiroki shouted, leaping out of the bed. He felt his nightmare-taxed heart start racing again. He leaned over and rested one hand on a knee, the other hand he ran through his morning-wild, brown hair. He found this dose of reality a little bit hard to handle.

"Nowaki, right?" The name bubbled up into his mind. Then he shouted, "What the hell are you doing in my bed?"

Hiroki drew back a moment wondering why he was asking a dog this and realized, rather sadly, that this was simply habit: his usual response to waking up and finding a strange male snoring next to him. Something that happened, despite what he'd indicated to Nowaki, far more often than Hiroki would have liked to admit.

The cone slowly turned in the direction of his voice and the dog looked at him with slyly innocent eyes.

Unswayed by the ploy, Hiroki straightened himself. "Off! Out! Down! Now! Whichever directive works!"

Instead of complying Nowaki simply rolled over onto his back, showing his scored, stitched belly.

Hiroki stared, feeling slightly guilty seeing the wounds, but he remained unswayed. Nowaki's tail gave a few soft thumps in response to the glare and he rolled over a little further. Now his head was upside down, a pink tongue slightly protruding.

As Hiroki's eyes swept over the hound again, his gaze caught on Nowaki's lower belly: Ochi's shaving had left the dog's underbelly far more revealed. Hiroki's expression shifted from annoyed to impressed.

"Wow, you're hung for a dog… Too bad you're not human..."

A very subtle smile quirked the corner of Hiroki's mouth. Then one off color thought tripped another and a memory of his behavior with Akihiko the previous day flashed through his mind. The smile disappeared in an instant.

"Go on! Get your fuzzy ass out of my bed!" Hiroki suddenly yelled, completely aware that he was displacing his fury.

The moment the dog heard the angry tones, he rolled over quickly and slunk off the bed. Nowaki immediately lay down at Hiroki's feet and got on his back again, belly bared in submission.

"Idiot," Hiroki sighed, unsure of whether he was addressing Nowaki or himself. He shook his head and headed to the bathroom.

* * *

><p>Twenty minutes later Hiroki emerged, showered and dressed. He hadn't shaved yet, but then it was Saturday and he didn't have any classes. Actually, his beard was naturally light and slow growing anyways, so skipping a day or two often didn't matter. This really annoyed him, as people often mistook him for a high school student rather than someone working on his Master's.<p>

Thankfully Nowaki wasn't camped outside the bathroom again. Even so, this made Hiroki uneasy. Peering into his bedroom, he was half-afraid the mutt would be back up on his futon again, but he wasn't. In fact the animal wasn't anywhere in sight.

Hiroki picked Nowaki's leash up off the floor and frowned. He quickly moved in to the main room of the apartment concerned about his boxes of books. But he didn't see Nowaki here either. Then he heard a light whining from the entry.

He walked down the short hall and there was Nowaki sitting by the front door.

"What are you doing here, Dumb ass?"

Seeing him, Nowaki's whine increased slightly in volume. He raised a big paw and gave the door a light scratch.

When Hiroki didn't respond immediately Nowaki rose, padded over, took the leash he was holding gently in his mouth, and gave a light tug.

"Oh."

Hiroki blushed as Nowaki cocked his head slightly as if to say, "Who's the dumb ass now?"

* * *

><p>Hiroki took Nowaki out and was soon blushing even more fiercely at all the stares the huge, cone-headed pup garnered from the people they passed. Not only that, but it was embarrassing the things that dogs had to do in public.<p>

At least Nowaki didn't strain on his leash and try to pull him around. In fact seemed quite content to peaceably pad alongside, that was, at least until something enticing caught his nose.

After about the fifth time Nowaki had lifted his leg, Hiroki had spent his modest amount of patience. "Can't you just lift your leg and get rid of that all at once!"

Hiroki was shocked when the next time the hound stopped and lifted, he appeared to do just that. Hiroki found himself thinking there was something uncanny about his temporary companion.

After their walk, they returned to the apartment. Hiroki cooked them both eggs and rice since that was all that he had. He made a mental note to go to the store later and get some kibble.

While Hiroki ate, he did what his academic mind told him was the next most logical step if Nowaki was going to be staying with him for a few days: he got on his laptop and looked up sites about dogs and dog training.

Nowaki had finished with his breakfast in about the first sixty seconds after his bowl had been set down on the floor. He made sad eyes at Hiroki, then, until he finally seemed to realize that while reading, his person was more or less oblivious. Nowaki laid down next to Hiroki's chair with an annoyed huff and resigned himself to waiting.

After breakfast Hiroki called his landlord and got permission for Nowaki to stay for one week, as long as that there were no complaints from his neighbors during that time. Of course before he'd called the building's manager, Hiroki had checked his phone in the hopes that Akihiko might have called. He tried to convince himself it didn't matter, didn't hurt, and it was what he'd expected when he opened his phone and discovered that he had no new messages or missed calls at all.

Later, after doing some tidying, with Nowaki following him like a shadow from room to room, Hiroki decided it was time to go to the store. He tied Nowaki out on the balcony, since the weather was much more mild that day.

He didn't trust the big dog alone in the apartment.

However, no sooner had he closed the sliding glass doors and stepped away, than the air was filled with the most mournful howl.

Hiroki flew back to the door and slid it open. "For fuck's sake, what is that racket about?" He scolded Nowaki in a volume not too much lower than the original howl.

Nowaki lowered his ears and hung his head just enough to look contrite. His tail tapped out an apology, but no sooner did Hiroki close the door and step away again, then another howl resounded. In the end, Nowaki ended up accompanying a grumbling Hiroki to the store. He didn't howl once as he sat tied to a railing outside, seeming quite content to watch all the people pass by.

He did, however, act as though he hadn't seen Hiroki for about five years when his new person emerged with a small bag of groceries for himself and weighted by a sizable bag of kibble.

Hiroki sternly admonished Nowaki in between the mongrel's joyous whimpers and a few exuberant bounces (not to mention too many tail wags to count) to stop acting so stupidly. But inside, though he would never admit it, Hiroki thought it was kind of a nice change to have someone who seemed so genuinely happy to see him.

* * *

><p>Early afternoon found Hiroki grading some student papers, in between his own course work. He looked up and his eyes fell on Nowaki who had crashed out in a sun patch by the balcony's glass doors.<p>

He hadn't realized how complicated having a dog (even temporarily) was going to be. He'd walked Nowaki at least three times now. Looking at the clock he imagined he'd probably need to do it again sometime soon but at the moment he was content to let sleeping dogs lie.

Deciding he needed a break from his schoolwork, Hiroki turned on the TV and started surfing the channels. His attention was arrested by a news program that was talking about a tragedy that had occurred at a local park the previous evening. Three park patrolmen had been killed under mysterious circumstances.

Hearing this Hiroki shuddered. He jumped when a moment later his doorbell sounded.

Nowaki raised a sleepy head and gave an annoyed, "Gwuff" at being roused.

"Quiet, Nowaki! And stay there," Hiroki growled, rising from the couch.

Nowaki ignored the "stay" command, however, and padded quietly behind as HIroki moved over to the door.

Opening it Hiroki was greeted by officer Sato. The patrolman had called him while he was shopping and had asked if he could stop by. After Hiroki had agreed Sato had asked him to please not talk about the events of the previous evening to anyone. Hiroki had agreed again (it wasn't as if he had anyone to talk to really anyways), though he'd thought the request strange. Seeing the bit on the news, however, he was beginning to understand why Sato had made the request.

Hiroki was surprised to see Dr. Ochi also standing there alongside the officer. "Uh… Please, come in." he awkwardly motioned after bows and greetings were exchanged.

The men entered and took off their shoes. Nowaki sat nearby watching curiously.

"I'm off duty today and when I told Ochi-san I was coming to see you, he asked if he could tag along," Sato offered, the slightest of blushes creeping into his cheeks.

"I hope you don't mind Kamijou-san," Ochi added cheerfully. "But I was a bit curious to see how my emergency patient was doing." He looked at Nowaki who wagged his tail amicably. "You certainly have him well trained," Ochi observed regarding Nowaki's calm demeanor. "Not even a bark when we knocked."

"Well… I suppose so..." Hiroki rubbed the back of his neck uncomfortably as they moved into the room.

"I uh, apologize for the mess, but I just moved in recently and haven't finished unpacking."

"No worries," Sato replied. "You said last night you were a student?"

"Graduate studies, literature," Hiroki supplied, then he asked, "Can I offer you some tea?"

"That would be great thank you, Kamijou-san," Sato replied.

Hiroki looked over at Dr. Ochi but the man seemed too interested at the moment playing "Who's a good dog?" with Nowaki to be interrupted.

"About last night," Sato hummed nervously.

"Did you catch it?" Hiroki nodded to the quietly playing T.V. "I'm sorry to hear about your colleagues."

Sato shook his head sadly in response. Then he looked up. "Did you see it, Kamijou-san?"

Hiroki recalled the creature's extraordinary eyes, its fetid breath, the hot wet of its spit on his ankle where pantleg and sock had left exposed skin. He nodded slowly. _Far better than anyone would ever want to._

"What did it look like? I mean what was it?" Sato asked breathlessly.

"If I told you, you'd think I was crazy, Sato-san."

"Try me," Sato encouraged.

Hiroki frowned, trying to decide how earnest the young officer really was.

"Whatever I saw wasn't rational," He said simply as he put the kettle on. "It couldn't exist.'

"Please, Kamijou-san, we have been chasing this thing for three months now. For some reason any security cameras around it go to static. No one else has gotten close enough to really see it, only fleeting glimpses. With the exception of you, the ones who did get close enough are all dead now." Sato looked desperate.

Hiroki rubbed the furrow in his forehead as he went to get the cups he'd put away in the cupboard that morning. "It seemed like some kind of demon… a dog demon." He said softly at last. An unconscious shudder coursed through him.

Before he could say anymore however, he and Sato were interrupted by an exclamation from Ochi.

"Unbelievable!"

The vet had gone and sat down on the couch and was ruffling the big puppy's head, which Nowaki had enjoyed immensely. Then he asked Nowaki to shake and when the dog complied, offering his wounded foreleg Ochi's eyes had grown wide.

Sato and Hiroki moved over quickly with concern evident on their handsome faces.

"Look at this!" Ochi cried breathlessly. "This is impossible! Waki-chan's leg is all but healed!"

As disconcerting as this was, Hiroki couldn't help but feel slightly vindicated after knowing what he'd seen regarding Nowaki's condition in the park the previous evening and what Dr. Ochi had observed in his office.

"What?" Sato looked down and it was true, the skin had joined.

"If anything, these stitches need to come out before the skin grows over them." Dr. Ochi shook his blond head. He looked up at the two men, his face still filled with wonder. "My emergency bag is in the car, I'll go get it."

Nowaki watched the vet leave with interest. Disappointed that his friendly scratcher was obviously leaving, he lay down with a sigh.

Sato looked from Nowaki to Hiroki and scratched his head. "Has he always healed that fast?"

Hiroki looked down at Nowaki, who seemed to be snoozing again. "Honestly, I don't know. He hasn't been hurt before in the time I've had him." Hiroki told himself this wasn't a lie .

"Outside of this, has he exhibited any other strange behaviors?" Sato asked curiously.

"Nope, he just eats, sleeps and well…uh… you know," Hiroki offered, blushing slightly.

There was a soft knock on the door and Ochi reappeared. "I hope you don't mind. I didn't latch it and just let myself back in."

Hiroki nodded. He went back in the kitchen to get the tea while Ochi removed the stitches. Hiroki told himself his retreat from the operation going on in his front room wasn't because he was squeamish, after all he'd wrapped Nowaki up the previous day when his guts and bones were poking out.

After getting the threads out of Nowaki's arm, Dr. Ochi coaxed the shaggy hound to show him his stomach. Again the weals were all but healed and the vet made quick work of removing these stitches too.

"Has he always been so placid?" Ochi asked as he watched Hiroki set a cup down on the book-covered, low table next to him.

"Ummmm," Hiroki nodded. "So far… Unless I try and leave him by himself and then he howls."

"Ah… separation anxiety," Dr. Ochi murmured rubbing Nowaki's shaved belly, careful of the still-pink raised ridges where his skin had been torn only hours before.

"You know with a temperament like this you should think of getting him certified as a service animal. Then he could go with you anywhere." Ochi put his tools away. He gazed again in amazement at Nowaki's lean belly. "I still just can't believe what I'm seeing."

Looking up at Hiroki, Ochi asked hopefully. "Would you mind if I take a blood sample, Kamijou-san? I'd like to run a few tests."

"Sure," Hiroki shrugged.

Sato was sipping his tea pensively. "Kamijou-san, would you be willing to come down to the station and have one of our sketch artists draw what you saw?"

Hiroki's eyes widened. "You want me to come down and describe something that looked like it came out of a horror film? With all respect, Sato-san, I have no desire for people to think that I'm crazy."

Hiroki was surprised when Sato didn't put up a bigger protest.

"I understand Kamijou-san," the officer frowned but he nodded. Sato shifted his gaze back to Nowaki, who was now sitting again. He moved over and scratched the shaggy head; Nowaki leaned into the touch.

"Will you at least promise to keep me apprised if Nowaki here starts exhibiting any strange behavior?"

Hiroki frowned "Well, wait, Ochi-sensei said with his vaccinations up to date he'd be fine."

"Well, he should be, but we may be dealing with an unknown entity here," Sato replied.

After Ochi had taken his sample. Hiroki offered his bathroom so the vet could wash his hands. Ochi accepted gratefully. He returned and offered Hiroki his card. "Please, Kamijou-san, don't hesitate to call me if you need to."

"What about the satellite dish?" Hiroki asked.

Ochi looked confused and then he laughed, "Oh… you mean the collar? I'm going to recommend that you leave it on at least through the night so that he doesn't worry those spots. But if everything looks good you can take it off tomorrow morning."

"Sound good Waki-chan?"

Nowaki wagged his tail agreeably.

Hiroki walked the men to the door after assuring Sato once more that he wouldn't discuss his experience with anyone else but the police. He said good bye and then returned to the couch. He sat down feeling exhausted. All the talk had stirred up his memories of the previous night and all the weirdness of Nowaki's fast recovery troubled his rational mind.

Looking at his phone sitting on the table, Hiroki reached over and flipped it open.

_If I hadn't been so stupid as to fuck Akihiko, I could call him to talk about what happened. Cops or not._

Then Hiroki remembered if he hadn't done what he had, he most likely wouldn't be in this situation at all. He felt tears of loss and frustration well in his eyes. He lay down on the couch and hid his sorrow behind a bent arm.

No sooner had he done this than he felt a gentle nudge against his shoulder. Hiroki lifted his arm and saw Nowaki looking at him worriedly.

"I'm fine," Hiroki growled, "Just tired." A moment later he felt a concerned paw on his arm.

"Go lay down, Nowaki!"

Hiroki felt the paw lift and heard a sad shuffle as Nowaki retreated to his sun patch, circled, and settled with a sigh.

Lifting his arm again, Hiroki peered out at Nowaki. Nowaki didn't move, he just stared at him, with and expression of despondence before finally looking away. Rolling over, Hiroki put his back to Nowaki, not wanting to deal with the dog. While he felt badly about yelling, in a small way he would never acknowledge, he was glad in this instant there was someone else with him even, if he was lying across the room feeling rejected.

He supposed in that instant they were kindred spirits of a sort.

* * *

><p>The sun had set not long ago and Hiroki was working on his research again. Every once in a while he'd look up to see Nowaki pacing. The dog had been doing this for over an hour now and it was driving him crazy.<p>

It wasn't like he hadn't taken Nowaki out. He'd woken up after falling asleep on the couch only to find Nowaki sitting beside him with his leash in his mouth all previous hurt seemingly forgotten.

He'd taken Nowaki out then and two other times since.

They had both eaten their dinner: Nowaki had kibble and Hiroki something instant. Fixing their meals Hiroki had found himself considering that Nowaki's might actually be the more nutritious of the two dishes.

Given these factors, Hiroki couldn't figure out what was going on with the mutt. What he did know however, was that Nowaki was really distracting him, which in turn was making him mightily annoyed.

Finally after the fifth time he'd told Nowaki to lie down and stay and the dog obeyed, only to get up and start pacing again five minutes later, Hiroki had reached his limit.

He moved over and grabbed Nowaki's collar. "Come on, Nowaki, I've had it. You're making me crazy!" He pulled the dog down to his spare room and herded Nowaki in, shutting the door behind him. A moment later the door opened again and the blanket Nowaki had started out on the previous night in the bedroom was thrown in too.

Hiroki returned to the sofa and sat down with a sigh.

Since Nowaki hadn't show any propensity for eating books he felt relatively safe sticking him in his soon to be study. He waited expecting to hear Nowaki start howling again. He was pleased when this didn't happen, though every now and then he could hear the muffled jangle of the dog's collar as Nowaki seemed to be continuing his pacing.

This however, Hiroki blocked out as he fell back into his reading. He was so engrossed he didn't even register a building cycle of whimpers and whines. It wasn't until he heard a crash of boxes, accompanied by an agonized howl that he started up with concern.

Hiroki hurried down the hall. More worried about his boxes of books than Nowaki actually. At least, that was until he heard another long, low sound that stopped him from opening the door and made all the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.

After this haunting sound things fell strangely silent.

Standing there in the hallway, it took Hiroki several minutes to rustle up his courage. Then he pushed through the door, "What's going on in here, Nowaki!" he demanded with far more bravado than he actually felt.

Hiroki's eyes widened and his jaw dropped at the scene that met him.

It wasn't the shredded blanket or the fallen boxes with books spilled and scattered on the floor that caused this. It was that, sitting in the middle of all this mayhem...

Was a long, lean, beautiful, naked teenage boy with shaggy black hair and blinking blue eyes, wearing a plastic, cone-shaped collar around his neck.

* * *

><p><strong>Thank you for reading and please review.<strong>


	7. 7: Pressed

**Full Moon Typhoon **

**Chapter Seven: Pressed**

* * *

><p>Slowly Hiroki backed out of the room and shut the door. On the other side of it, standing out in the hall again, he shook his head slowly and rubbed his eyes. He found himself suddenly feeling faint.<p>

_What in god's name is this? I am seriously going insane. That... or my eyes are playing the most profound practical joke on me._

His knees apparently were having just as much trouble processing this most current bit of the inexplicable as his mind. As a result they suddenly gave way and Hiroki sat down hard on the floor in his hallway. He ran his fingers through his thick brown hair.

_I am a rational man, trying to live a rational existence. Well, okay, rational outside of my ridiculously long infatuation with Akihiko. _

Hiroki's dark eyes lifted from the floor to the closed door before him.

_So what in the hell is happening to me?_

* * *

><p>Inside the room Nowaki was dealing with his own profound puzzlement. While he was so happy the annoying buzz in his bones he'd been feeling all evening was gone and the brief but intense pain he'd just felt was over, he was stunned by a universe of new sensations.<p>

His limbs felt awkward and askew: things bending in new directions. His normally acute ears and nose were strangely stifled, leaving him feeling almost blind. His vision had changed as well and Nowaki was seeing everything differently. Or he would have anyway, if the new orientation of his head hadn't caused the annoying cone he'd been forced to wear to block so much of his view .

Nowaki strained to twist and see beyond the cone and suddenly the world leapt at him with all its dazzling color. He'd never seen it in such vivid tones before and the effect of all these new hues was beautiful and rather overwhelming. What's more he realized was that he had a word for the phenomenon he was seeing: _"color."_ He knew he'd heard lots of words hanging around the Kusama children, but he only retained a few of these, or so he'd thought. Usually he got most of the meaning about what was being said by tone.

But the dog understood also that he'd been comprehending far more words today than he ever had before for some reason. He'd simply figured it was because his new man was so amazing.

It was after this thought Nowaki realized that his person had left him alone again. He didn't like this at all.

He would have complained about the absence earlier when he'd first been put in this room, but he was so preoccupied by the tension he'd been feeling he hadn't bothered, preferring to pace, trying to outrun the discomfort. Now, however, Nowaki wasn't distracted and he desperately wanted his person back.

A low whine built in his throat at this longing.

* * *

><p>Out in the hall Hiroki heard the whine and while the pitch was perhaps lower, it was definitely dog-like. This sound reassured him (somewhat). After a minute he heard a clumsy shuffle and could hear Nowaki snuffling at the base of the door and the scrape of the cone along the floor. The whimpering increased.<p>

Hiroki rose shakily and set a trembling hand on the knob. _Come on Kamijou, sac up,_ he told himself peevishly. _It's just a dog. You're going to open that door and see good old, shaggy, black Nowaki._

He opened the door and was immediately bowled over.

"What the...!" Hiroki yelled as he crashed to the floor for the second time in less than ten minutes. His heart was beating wildly as long limbs pushed him down. Hiroki was horrified that while what had been behind the door was indeed shaggy and dark, it was also still undoubtedly human.

Not only was it human, but having just knocked him on his ass, now the naked teen was quite vigorously licking up and down Hiroki's neck in happy abandon. As much as the plastic cone collar he was wearing would allow him to anyways.

In response to the press of firm, bare, young flesh and feeling the enthusiastic attentions of a warm wet tongue on his sensitive skin of his throat, Hiroki redoubled his efforts to push the youth off. He'd been mortified to find suddenly that as a result of these sensations his fear was now being blended with a significant dose of arousal.

"Gaaaahhh! Get off me, whoever the hell you are!" Hiroki gave the kid a hard shove and scrambled up.

"This is crazy!" he gasped, backing himself into one of the hallway's walls, pressing himself against it, as he tried desperately to get his bearings.

* * *

><p>Even with his new impaired hearing, Nowaki understood the anger and the fear in the human's voice. He tried to move forward towards his person to comfort him but he couldn't quite get the hang of it: is back legs were now way too long for some reason.<p>

* * *

><p>Seeing the intruder…<p>

_That's what he is... Right? An intruder?_

Hiroki found himself wondering as he searched for some word to apply as a designation for this... person. He decided to go with it.

Seeing the intruder's wobbled crawl as he tried to approach him, Hiroki drew himself up. "Stop right there! Don't you dare come one step closer!"

He took a step away from the youth and moved further down the hall, still using the wall to brace himself.

* * *

><p>While Nowaki didn't quite understand all the words together, he definitely understood the tone and knew he had done something to cause displeasure. He cast his new mind about and recalled he'd jumped on the man, which he knew was bad of him.<p>

Nowaki was a bit surprised with himself at remembering this, as it seemed to him he usually lived more moment to moment, and even this sudden cognition seemed strange and new.

Feeling convicted for being a "bad dog" Nowaki tried to figure out what he could do to make amends. Then he did the one thing he knew to do to best show the man he was sorry: he lay down and rolled over exposing his belly.

Looking at Hiroki as he was, clutching the wall, panting, and upside-down, though he'd seen the man countless times since he'd met him the previous day, with his new vision, Nowaki knew that in all his life he'd never seen anything so lovely. There was something about the human that struck Nowaki in a way he'd never, ever felt before. His chest ached and his stomach fluttered and he was instantly gripped with an even more desperate desire to please him.

* * *

><p>Hiroki was still trying to catch his breath, preparing for the intruder to advance on him again. So he was shocked when the youth suddenly dropped and rolled over.<p>

Looking at the teen lying before him, Hiroki was stunned. Guileless blue eyes stared up at him with an expression that was just shy of pleading. Once he realized the stranger didn't seem to be intent on moving again, not for the moment anyways, Hiroki cast shocked eyes over the lanky youth.

The teen's face was pleasant, handsome even, and incredibly open, almost innocent looking. His head was topped with thick, ink-black hair and he had the most amazing blue eyes Hiroki had ever seen.

Traveling down further the wonder didn't stop. Though the young man was long and lean, he was beautifully built and athletically muscled. Hiroki's eyes dragged over tight pectorals with a light patch of black fur between them and down lovely ridged belly. The teen had a trail that led from just below his belly button down to his groin and nested in a thatch of soft black fur the youth's cock was a thing of beauty.

Hiroki swallowed hard and his eyes moved back up the lean figure. He gasped when he noticed the pale pink streaks that lined the young man's stomach in the exact same place that the hound had his stitches. Hiroki felt his legs slip again and he slowly slid down the wall.

* * *

><p>Seeing the man settle and drop down to his level, Nowaki felt it was safe to roll over. He pulled himself up and crawled awkwardly over. He wanted to wag his tail in assurance. Nowaki paused in his advance for a moment when he suddenly realized he couldn't feel his tail anymore. he turned his head, but the cone wouldn't let him see what was behind him.<p>

Deciding to leave this new mystery for the moment, Nowaki approached the man of his heart somewhat tentatively. He drew up alongside Hiroki and put a gentle paw on a lean thigh.

* * *

><p>Hiroki gazed at the hand on his leg dumbly. Then slowly, cautiously, he reached out with one hand and picked it up. Turning it over, he saw again the long thin pink line running down the beautifully warm-toned flesh of the teen's forearm. His brow took on perhaps the most intense furrow that had ever graced its troubled surface. Hiroki raised his other hand and set it gently on the youth's smooth cheek.<p>

"Nowaki?" he breathed in a choked whisper.

* * *

><p>Nowaki pressed into the touch and sighed happily.<p>

* * *

><p><strong>Okay, so when I started this fic I had decided to make inu Nowaki 9 months old because I had just read an article that said the first year of a dog's life is developmentally equal to like 21 human years and I thought that 9 months would make him around the age he was in the manga when he met Hiroki. (Yeah I suck at math, I admit it).<strong>

**Then looking for the article online again I found a number of articles that said that the first year of a dog's life is equal to about 14-15 human years, the second 10 years and then 4years every year after that.**

**So I messed up because Nowaki would have to be about a year and a half in real dog years to be close to the age he was when he met Hiroki as a human. But I already made him a puppy in this fic and don't want to change it...nor do I intend for this to be shota, so for all intents and purposes... in this story... **

**9 month-old inu Nowaki = 18 year-old Human Nowaki. **

**After all, this is fiction... and this is a horror story folks, so it doesn't have to be rational. **

**I'll do better with my facts next fic, I promise.**


	8. 8: Alpha

**Full Moon Typhoon **

**Chapter Eight: Alpha**

* * *

><p>Hiroki sat there another moment looking into the "dog's" intense blue eyes, his mind struggling to process how the impossible had happened.<p>

This was made even more difficult by the fact Nowaki's human face was incredibly lovely. In particular the expression in his gaze, which was a combination of confusion, concern, and that quality almost impossible to find in any human having more than a few years: innocence.

"Okay, there has to be some logical explanation for this."

Nowaki tipped his head slightly as he struggled to try and process the words. Hiroki found himself snorting at how this looked, Nowaki's head still ensconced in the plastic cone.

"First things first, Nowaki." Hiroki reached up with still trembling fingers and began to fumble with the cone's attachments. "I can't think straight, looking at you in this ridiculous get up."

A few moments later the cone was rolling on the floor and Nowaki was free. Hiroki looked at the collar around the young man's neck, wondering if this too should come off. Before he could decide, however, Nowaki, grateful to be released from his coned captivity, leaned in again and began licking the side of Hiroki's face in thanks.

"Hey, Nowaki! Knock that off!" Hiroki put his hands on the excited youth's shoulders and pushed Nowaki away.

Nowaki sat back, somehow managing to look both contrite and happy simultaneously, that was until, now without the obstruction of the cone, he looked down and for the first time was really was able to see his new body.

Hiroki watched with cautious curiosity as Nowaki's blue eyes widened. The former dog's expression shifted instantly from contentment to confusion. He withdrew the hand that was still on Hiroki's leg and drug it in a broad swipe down his lean torso. His newly human mind began to panic as the shift in his skin really registered.

Turning his head, Nowaki tried to look back over his shoulder. Finding his new neck not quite as supple as his previous incarnation, he reached his hand around behind himself to find that his numb tail was indeed actually entirely absent. This realization, combined with his newly furless flesh's response to the apartment's temperature, brought a shiver to his lanky frame.

The young man brought his hand back around and lifted it up before his eyes. Hiroki watched as Nowaki flexed his fingers and seemed shocked by the novelty of this. Blue eyes gazed in amazement as the thumb's motion was explored. The new human snorted as thumb and fingertips brushed each other for the first time. Hiroki realized he was watching the "dog's" mind process the significance of its first grasp.

Even though his own rational mind was still reeling, the analytical part of Hiroki found this whole scenario completely fascinating.

Nowaki dropped his gaze and his eyes fell on one of Hiroki's hands. He reached long, trembly fingers out and his fingertips brushed the back of it lightly. Hiroki allowed Nowaki to use his new grasp to encircle it and lift it up before him.

When Nowaki released his hand, Hiroki kept it there, suspended in the air, positioned flat as if in a motion to halt. Seconds later Nowaki pressed his own flat hand against his, new eyes taking in the fact, that with the exception of his longer fingers, the two appendages were identical.

Nowaki shivered again. He raised his apprehensive eyes to Hiroki and a low whine burred in his throat. Hiroki gazed back at Nowaki sympathetically.

"I'm glad to know I'm not the only one freaked out by this."

* * *

><p>Hiroki was pacing in his front room. Nowaki sat on the floor by the couch draped in a blanket watching him intently. Hiroki had gotten up not long after they had pressed palms and come into the room from the hallway. Nowaki, completely disconcerted, had crawled after.<p>

Despite the fact that Nowaki had showed no compunction about climbing into his bed previously, apparently the couch was different somehow for the "dog." Hiroki had tried several times to coax the youth up onto the cushions, but Nowaki had shrunk back and whined. Reluctantly, Hiroki had finally allowed him to stay on the floor.

He'd draped a blanket he'd taken from his bedroom over the shivering youth, partly because it was obvious that without his fur, Nowaki was considerably colder than he was used to feeling. Added to that, however, Hiroki was having some personal difficulties: having a beautiful, very naked, young man in his house was immensely distracting.

As Hiroki paced back and forth he looked at his cell phone. His mind was frantically searching for who he could call that might offer him some kind of rational explanation for what had happened. He wondered if it was possible the woman who ran the Kusama orphanage knew.

Of course, how was he supposed to find out? Just call and say "Um excuse ma'am, but were you aware that the dog you gave me changes into a human? Does this happen often?" No, the woman would most likely think he was crazy.

Hiroki had also briefly considered calling Dr. Ochi. The vet had told him to call if he had any problems. Well, this constituted a pretty big problem… Right? Again, however, Hiroki had no desire to have Ochi-sensei think his newest client was a fruit loop.

"What in the hell am I going to do with you, Nowaki?" Hiroki had finally stopped in his pacing. Nowaki moved over on all fours and sat down just in front of him, looking expectant.

"Yeah, okay…" Hiroki rubbed the back of his neck as he set his cell phone down on the counter separating the kitchen from the front room. "First thing I have to do is get you upright I guess. It's not fitting for you to be crawling around on the floor."

_Disconcertingly sexy_, Hiroki thought to himself, _but improper none the less._

"Ummm… Do you know 'up'?" Hiroki patted his chest lightly, feeling extremely ridiculous. He was pleased, however, when Nowaki raised himself up off his knees.

"Ah, that's good," He recalled the research he'd done on dogs and training that afternoon. Hiroki watched Nowaki's sweet face take on an awkward half-grin at the words and the tones he'd used. Something fluttered in his chest at the expression, particularly when he realized that he was witnessing Nowaki's first human smile.

"Positive reinforcement," Hiroki mumbled to himself. "Right."

"Okay, Nowaki, can you get 'up' higher?"

Nowaki tipped his head at this. Then Hiroki remembered something he'd read had said it was better to give one's dog a command, rather than a question.

"Up," Hiroki stated plainly.

Nowaki straightened his back a bit, but made no attempt to raise himself further.

"UP!" Hiroki said more loudly. He grimaced with this harsher tone made Nowaki's forehead wrinkle and his sensual lips turn slightly downward.

After a minute of contemplation and watching Nowaki begin to sink down to a kneeling position again, Hiroki cleared his throat and leaned down slowly, so as not to frighten the youth. He reached out hesitantly and slipped his arms under Nowaki's. As he did this the blanket fell from Nowaki's shoulders, leaving him bare again.

"Okay, let's try this," Hiroki huffed, trying hard not to notice how nice naked Nowaki felt in his arms. This feeling was heightened when Nowaki suddenly wrapped his own lean arms around his neck and nuzzled under his chin.

"Up!" Hiroki barked springing into action before the close contact caused him to get "sprung" himself. He tried to stand up straight, pulling Nowaki with him.

This worked initially, but once Nowaki actually got his feet under him, he became extremely tippy, and after a moment of wavering he went down, taking Hiroki with him.

"God damn it!" Hiroki muttered against Nowaki's bare chest. He suddenly felt a tongue on his forehead and looked up into a pair of delighted blue eyes.

"Bahhhh! Bad, Nowaki! No licking!" Hiroki snapped trying to extricate himself from Nowaki's arms, but to no avail. Despite the scolding, Nowaki leaned his shaggy head forward and offered his person a playful growl and a gentle nip to the underside of Hiroki's jaw.

"Enough!" Hiroki cried, and he began to wiggle fervently, trying to escape. Mistaking the motions for play Nowaki lunged up and after a few moments of significant tussling, he had successfully reversed their positions and Hiroki was now flat on his back, under him.

Nowaki was sitting, straddling Hiroki's thighs. He had found the benefit of his new hands and had pinned Hiroki's own hands down on either side of him. From this new position, Nowaki gazed down on his human.

"Nowaki, get the hell off me!" Hiroki barked.

Nowaki affected the same lopsided grin as before and barked back, though his retort sounded much more like a rough laugh.

Hiroki's brow furrowed at this. This was no time for Nowaki to be discovering his sense of humor. He frowned at his disobedient canine. Nowaki's deep blue eyes stared back in playful challenge.

Despite the fact his ears and nose were dulled compared to his previous form, Nowaki's senses here were still far more acute than the average person's. He lowered his nose to Hiroki's chest and began to snuffle him with rowdy enthusiasm. He could smell the man's fear, but beneath that and growing stronger was the undeniable scent of arousal. Nowaki found this intoxicating.

"Hey! Stop it, you idiot!" Hiroki shouted. "God damn it that tickles!"

He began to protestingly laugh at the sensation of Nowaki's olfactory attentions. Hiroki bucked his hips up under Nowaki trying to break free. He frantically cast his mind back to all the things he'd read on his laptop about dogs earlier, but somehow they didn't seem quite as applicable now.

Finally Hiroki stopped fighting and stilled. At this acquiescence, Nowaki settled also. He lifted his head from Hiroki's chest, and looked earnestly at the man beneath him.

Hiroki took a deep breath and gave Nowaki the hard glare he'd recently begun perfecting on his students.

Nowaki stared back.

Fixing Nowaki with his furious brown gaze, Hiroki growled, low in his throat. "I'm the alpha!"

After articulating this, the two males continued to stare at each other. Finally Nowaki blinked once slowly and then dropped his eyes.

"Off!" Hiroki ordered.

Despite his advantaged position, Nowaki recognized the tone of authority. Nowaki shifted a bit, he hesitated, then with a slight huffing sound he moved over off of Hiroki.

Hiroki scrambled up immediately. He was blushing furiously as he brushed himself off and adjusted the front of his currently too tight trousers. He fixed Nowaki with an angry stare.

Nowaki blinked bluely back at him, the picture of expectant innocence.

"Like I said, Nowaki, I'm the alpha!" Hiroki snarled.

Nowaki sat where he was on the floor unmoving. Then he looked away and yawned uncomfortably.

"Glad we got that settled," Hiroki grumbled. Then, ever the professor, he put his mind back to how best to work with this particularly dogged student. After another moment an idea came to him. He went into his kitchen and pulled a box of salmon flavored soy crackers from his cupboard.

Nowaki, who had been studiously avoiding his gaze, watched this motion from the corner of his eye. The moment he heard the plastic rattle of the bag inside the box, Hiroki had his absolute attention.

Hiroki noticed this immediately and the barest of smiles twisted his lips. He saw Nowaki start to crawl forward.

"Stay, Nowaki," Hiroki said softly.

He watched as Nowaki immediately stopped, though the youth shifted uncomfortably with anticipation.

"Now that's more like it."

Hiroki pulled a chair from near the outside counter of the kitchen and brought it over in front of Nowaki. He stepped up on to it and reached into the box. He drew out a cracker and held it high in the air, well aware that Nowaki was tracking his every move hungrily.

A light chuckle escaped Hiroki despite himself, seeing that the tip of Nowaki's pink tongue was now protruding as he contemplated the elevated cracker.

"Okay, Nowaki, let's get back to our lessons shall we?" Hiroki said in a much more scholarly tone.

"Up."

* * *

><p><strong>Thank you for reading and please review.<br>**


	9. 9: Blank Slates and Unexpected Mines

**Full Moon Typhoon**

**Chapter Nine: Blank Slates & Unexpected Mines**

* * *

><p>Some hours later, Hiroki stood in his bedroom fumbling through his drawers looking for something for Nowaki to wear while the youth sat on the couch in the other room. As he rifled through his wardrobe he reflected on how surprisingly easy it had been to get Nowaki to overcome his earlier hesitation of sitting on the sofa with a simple cracker.<p>

Considering all their lessons of the last few hours and all the "dog" had learned, however, Hiroki had come to understand that in addition to Nowaki's obsession with food, his recently evolved companion also had a remarkable mind.

Looking at the clock on his bedside table, Hiroki grimaced. It was almost three am. He knew he should have been feeling far more exhausted than he was, but Nowaki was the best student he'd had ever had and he was feeling buzzed by their success. There was also the added charge of the fact that Hiroki had realized in many ways, in his new human form, Nowaki was a tabula rasa:* the ultimate challenge and opportunity simultaneously. And the idea of shaping him was both thrilling and overwhelming.

Finally, Hiroki pulled a simple pair of boxers from his drawer along with a tee-shirt.

He'd conducted their first classes in human mobility with Nowaki in his naked state. It had been a bit distracting at times, having a beautiful, bare, teen puppy wobbling around his flat. But Nowaki seemed to have no understanding of his exposed condition as something he should be uncomfortable about. So, Hiroki had decided to put off that particular lesson, in fact, he enjoyed the former hound's innocence in this matter.

Besides, on closer inspection, seeing Nowaki without his covering of fur, Hiroki had realized the youth's skin had a patina of dirt in places from his outdoor existence, plus the remaining betadine stains from the previous day's treatment of his now vanished injuries.

Hiroki knew a bath of some sort was in order.

He'd worked hard to convince himself that this was another reason why he'd allowed Nowaki to remain naked (with the exception of his collar) as long as he had. Not because he was a pervert, but because it simply made more sense not to put fresh clothes on Nowaki until he was equally clean himself.

Hiroki gathered the garments and headed out into the main room wondering how Nowaki would handle a bath.

"Nowaki…"

Hiroki was surprised to not see Nowaki perched on the couch waiting for him when he emerged, especially since he'd told him to "stay." He had a sudden sense of panic.

The last time Nowaki had coltishly ambled down the hallway, he had grabbed onto the door knob of the guest room for balance. Within seconds of this contact, the previous canine had ascertained the benefit of his newly opposable thumbs and the mechanics of how to open a door.

"Damn it..." Hiroki dropped the clothes on the arm of his sofa and rushed to the hall entry, praying all the while that his big puppy had not decided to take himself out on a walk. Newly-human Nowaki, getting arrested for walking the streets of Tokyo bare-ass naked was the last thing either of them needed.

Hiroki breathed a sigh of relief when he came upon Nowaki sitting by the door with his leash in his hands.

"Nowaki, what are you doing here?" He kept his tone calm, having realized early on in their lessons how extremely sensitive the boy was to the subtlest shift in sounds. Nowaki also seemed to have tremendous perception when it came to body language as well.

"I told you to stay."

Nowaki looked down at his hands, his posture told Hiroki he knew he had disobeyed and was feeling remorseful. Innocent blue eyes looked up after a minute, their clarity pierced Hiroki's heart.

Somewhat hesitantly Nowaki lifted his hands offering his leash.

Hiroki was surprised to see that Nowaki had once again employed his new-found manual dexterity and already attached his leash to his collar.

"Please… San… out…" Nowaki tentatively petitioned. His human voice was sweet but rough as it wrapped itself around the new language.

Hiroki had given the canine command "speak" at one point that evening and discovered that Nowaki knew this when the youth gave a hoarse bark in response. Discovering this, he had decided to test and see if Nowaki was capable of speech.

"Please," was the first word he had taught: a request Nowaki had to make for his next cracker. He'd also tried to teach his new ward both of their names.

It seemed now that Nowaki had understood already that "please" prefaced a request. Not only that but he'd also obviously grasped "out" from their earlier excursions. But most extraordinary was that Nowaki was attempting simple syntax to communicate.

Hiroki found his brows rising as once again with how quickly the youth was learning.

_Extraordinary..._

It shouldn't really have been that surprising, he supposed, as once they had gotten that particular ball rolling, Nowaki quickly began to grasp the meaning of many of the words he had been hearing humans say to him over the course of his short, puppy life. Hiroki's life focused on words as it was, watching Nowaki's growing comprehension of the sounds he'd heard and their meanings had been a very profound experience.

"Kamijou-san," Hiroki corrected.

Nowaki looked at him and nodded. "Please, San, out," he repeated.

Hiroki sighed. No matter how many times he'd told Nowaki his name, for some reason he seemed unable or unwilling to say Kamijou.

"Is it the 'K' sound that's troubling you, Nowaki? What are you going to do when you have to introduce yourself to someone?" Hiroki muttered shaking his head as he bent down and unsnapped the leash from Nowaki's collar.

"Look, you need to call me by my name, Kamijou-san… Kamijou Hiroki."

Seeing the intent way Nowaki was looking at him, Hiroki repeated this again pointing at himself. "My name is Kamijou Hiroki, Kamijou-san." He stood up and stepped back, hanging the leash back up. "And there's no way you're going outside like that."

When Nowaki understood Hiroki was not going to take him outside a soft whine burred in his throat and he shifted uncomfortably.

Realizing that Nowaki's desire to go out involved more than mere stretch of the legs, Hiroki sighed.

"Please, H-Hiro... Hiro-san, out." Nowaki's gentle tone carried an edge of desperation now.

Although Hiroki didn't relish being called by his first name or the way that Nowaki had abbreviated it, hearing the need in the youth's voice, he decided there were currently more pressing matters than correcting the puppy-boy. Besides, it was at least a step in the right direction.

"Come on, Nowaki," he coaxed, "up."

Nowaki's face maintained its tense expression, but he rose without question.

"Come." Hiroki turned and began walking back into the apartment.

Nowaki hesitated, not wanting to leave the entry. "Please, Hiro-san…"

"Out… yeah, yeah, I know." Hiroki finished the sentence.

"Come, Nowaki," Hiroki directed in the firm but calm tone he'd quickly learned the teen responded the best to. "I am going to teach you how humans take themselves out."

He headed off down the hall with Nowaki following reluctantly but obediently after.

* * *

><p>If someone had told Hiroki a few hours earlier that he would be housetraining a recently transformed human-hound at three in the morning the day after being attacked by some kind of demon, he would have immediately called the authorities and had the obviously deranged individual hauled away. And yet, here he was, doing exactly that.<p>

"Okay, Nowaki... You go 'out' in there." Hiroki pointed down into the toilet bowl. Nowaki looked down into the porcelain basin and then back up. His blue eyes blinked uncomprehendingly. The new human had smelled the concentrated scent of his person at the door of this room when he was a dog, but still, having not often been allowed to linger inside during his short existence, Nowaki had never been in a bathroom before.

His recently reconfigured nasal passages were still considerably more acute than most humans. Given this, despite the clean conditions of the man's bathroom, he could still detect Hiroki's scent and this just made his now pressing needs all the more urgent. Nowaki looked at Hiroki and offered a pleading, "Please, Hiro-san."

Hiroki pinched the bridge of his nose as he tried to consider the best way to teach Nowaki this. Finally, with his cheeks flushing mightily he came to a decision. He had been kind of needing to go himself anyway.

Stepping up to the bowl Hiroki began to fumble, undoing his pants. Normally he would have just unzipped and pulled his cock out the slit in his briefs, but he figured this too was something that Nowaki would have to be shown.

"So… uh… yeah…you don't have undo the button, just unzip, and make sure you get the zipper down far enough. When you close up shop after, you want to watch when you zip, okay… Because if your underwear fabric is thin, you can still get skin caught too."

Hiroki knew that Nowaki wasn't following even half of what he said, but somehow talking it through like this made the whole embarrassing process a little easier. "This is how you access your dick through your shorts… then umm… you just take it and aim it and uh… go 'out.'"

Nowaki's intense scrutiny of all he was demonstrating was slightly disturbing: keen eyes had followed his every move. They'd widened when Hiroki pulled out his cock and Hiroki observed Nowaki's hand drift down and grab his own member.

Averting his eyes, Hiroki focused on what he was doing; he'd always been a bit piss shy in front of others and preferred the privacy of stalls when he was out in the world. Finally after some hesitation, his reluctant bladder relented and a strong stream of urine hit the back of the bowl with a satisfying hiss.

Once he was done, Hiroki gave his dick two quick shakes and put himself away.

"Okay Nowaki, your turn," he said, stepping back from the bowl.

Nowaki obviously really had to go as he stepped up quickly and immediately let loose with a fierce jet. His aim was off a bit, however.

"Hey, watch it!" Hiroki barked. "I don't have a maid in this joint you know!"

Without thinking he leaned in and set his hand atop Nowaki's until the pup had his stream under control. At his touch Nowaki looked at him, though his piss didn't waver. Catching Nowaki's eye, Hiroki blushed and withdrew his hand as soon as he knew the other had gotten the gist of aiming.

"Wow, you really needed to go," Hiroki muttered when Nowaki had finally finished. "You must have a bladder like a camel's hump." His voice was laced with admiration. "Okay, so now shake, you don't want any little bit left in there dripping out later.

He watched Nowaki try and emulate what he'd done and was hard pressed not to snort when the youth grimaced. "Shake it, Nowaki, not try to break it off." Seeing Nowaki adjust his motion, Hiroki noticed the young man didn't release himself after.

"Drop it," Hiroki said firmly. "More than two shakes and you're just playing with it." Nowaki looked at him with a certain expression and Hiroki realized that the youth didn't relish the idea of unhanding himself.

"Seriously, Nowaki, that is not a lesson I want to get into tonight." Hiroki thought he might be well on his way for breaking his record of most blushes within a twenty-four hour period. "Drop it."

At this sterner tone, Nowaki complied, but the sigh he emitted told Hiroki he wasn't entirely happy about it.

Hiroki leaned over and depressed the lever. Nowaki's eyes widened again as he watched the colored water disappear. "Now wash your hands." Hiroki demonstrated, turning on the sink and grabbing the soap from its dish.

Nowaki followed suit but spent a few minutes afterwards alternating between turning the taps off and on and flushing the toilet; he was absolutely entranced by what his new hands allowed him to do. Hiroki watched the puppy boy's fascination with quiet amusement.

"Okay, Nowaki, as long as you're in here, we might as well get you cleaned up the rest of the way. What do you think about that?" Hiroki moved towards the shower not expecting an answer to his rhetorical question. He stopped short then when Nowaki gave a slight growl as he cleared his newly human throat.

"Please, Hiro-san, out."

"But you just…" Hiroki started. Then seeing Nowaki's expression, he realized that all the crackers consumed must have set some of Nowaki's other internal works into motion.

Moving back over to the commode again, Hiroki flipped the ring on the seat of the toilet down. Nowaki cocked his head at the toilet's new appearance.

"That's so you don't fall in," Hiroki patiently explained. "Now being a guy and living alone, usually it's up okay, but be aware that little ring can cause a lot of tension... Especially if you 're visiting somewhere where there are females and you leave it up like that…" Hiroki shook his head at Nowaki's bemused expression.

"Never mind," he sighed, wondering why in the hell he felt compelled to expound on such unnecessary issues of etiquette, when his audience had maybe a dozen words at the moment. "Come, Nowaki," Hiroki moved aside. Nowaki stepped obediently over.

"Sit."

Once again Nowaki complied, he sat down on the ring, but after a moment he looked up. His handsome young face wore a look that was a combination of expectation and anxiety.

"Please, out, Hiro-san."

"Shit," Hiroki sighed knowing that was exactly what he would soon be dealing with. He wondered how he was going to field this one.

* * *

><p>Nowaki sat on the floor in the bathroom watching as Hiroki started the water in the shower. Both males were a little frazzled after their last experience, but Nowaki seemed to have at last grasped the necessary concepts of toilet usage all the way through to the "end" as it were.<p>

The dog-boy watched the spray start in the shower with an expression of apprehension. Hiro-san had said "bath" and this word was not exactly coupled with Nowaki's best memories.

Not long after he'd shown up at the orphanage a couple of the older boys had stuck him in a basin to wash him. Frightened of the new experience of the water, Nowaki had struggled and in trying to subdue him the riled boys had almost drowned him. After that, all of his baths had been carried out with a hose and cold water while he was staked outside. The hound had not particularly relished these either.

"Okay, Nowaki, up!" Hiroki ordered. Nowaki stood somewhat shakily.

Hiroki immediately noticed the young man was trembling. "Are you cold? The water will warm you up." He put a hand on Nowaki's shoulder to guide him, but the teen balked. A soft whimper escaped Nowaki and his shaking doubled.

"Wait... Are you scared, Nowaki?"

Hiroki gave him a gentle push towards the shower and was flummoxed when Nowaki sank back down to the floor folding his long arms protectively over his head.

"No…no… Hiro-san, p-please." Nowaki's low whines had taken on a bleating quality when he spoke.

Hiroki heard the fear in Nowaki's voice and was hard pressed to imagine that this was the same being that had hurled himself so boldly at the creature in the park.

"Nowaki."

The pup looked up hesitantly, his blue eyes watery with his distress. Feeling the wetness on his cheek, Nowaki rubbed his hand against his eye. He studied the glistening streak on the back of his hand with an expression of perplexity.

Hiroki was profoundly moved by these fearful tears, though he imagined they were also partly from exhaustion and all the shock of the human pup's new state. But he realized too that these were Nowaki first human tears and he was witness to them.

"Hey, Nowaki..." he kept his voice soft and reached out a hand to ruffle the shaggy, dark head.

Given his past experiences at the orphanage, knowing he was being disobedient, Nowaki couldn't help but shrink a bit as Hiro-san reached towards him. Hiroki frowned, seeing this flinch. Once again he found himself disgusted with the place where Nowaki had spent his life up to this point.

Hiroki knew a thing or two about being scared. When he was really young he'd had an overwhelming terror of the dark. His father's response to this was to shut him away at night and close the door. "You need to harden up, boy. Face your fears head on, that's what being a man is all about," the senior Kamijou had said. He'd even gone so far as put a drape down in front of the door from the outside so that no light from the hall would leak in under it leaving his son in total darkness.

This had made bedtime incredibly traumatic for Hiroki as a boy. He remembered all too well, even still, the rising sense of dread that would begin to fill him as soon as he arrived home after school each day knowing what lay ahead for him. He'd been a wreck about it and despite his father's shaming would become emotional before bed.

It wasn't until one day before his father had come home from work that his mother had saved him by giving him a flashlight. She had told him, however, that once the batteries wore out, she wouldn't replace them. Hiroki had used the torch the first few nights, but then after that, just knowing he had access to the light if he needed it had been enough and he was able to weather the night's darkness with much less fear.

Hiroki considered his situation now with Nowaki; he had no desire to be like his father. Besides, he already knew full well how courageous the dog-boy's heart was. He set his hand gently on Nowaki's shaggy head and ran his fingers through inky locks.

Nowaki pushed into the touch unconsciously. He stiffened, however, when he felt Hiroki's hand leave his head and then both of the man's hands on his collar. He leaned back a bit expecting Hiroki to grab it and pull him into the shower. Nowaki's blue eyes looked up in surprise, when instead he felt nimble fingers undo the buckle and his collar was slipped off him.

He watched as Hiroki straightened and pulled off the shirt he was wearing. Hiroki then pushed his jeans down off his slender hips. Hiroki left his briefs on however, wanting a bit of a restraint for himself, because despite his best intentions, as the evening had worn on, he could not help but find Nowaki increasingly stirring.

Hiroki stepped into the shower and pulled the bath stool in front of him. "Come on, Wa-chan," he coaxed. "No bath tonight, just a shower."

Nowaki cocked his head; a new shiver coursed through him. Seeing his person standing there in the water though, he leaned forward, enticed by Hiro-san's soothing tone.

He watched as Hiro-san ran long fingers through his thick brown hair, pushing his soaked bangs back. Nowaki noted the lean look of the man's hard torso, the way Hiroki's water-heavy briefs slid low on his hips. There was something about this, that stirred the hound and he knew that even as much as he didn't like the water he wanted to be with Hiro-san.

He rose a bit unsteadily and stepped warily into the shower.

Hiroki stood quietly and watched as Nowaki adjusted to the warm water. He didn't try and do anything that would serve to provoke the teen's fear. Soon Nowaki was standing directly in front of him looking down on him.

Hiroki found himself feeling mildly annoyed that the big puppy was so god damn tall, but rather than allow this to show, he instead offered Nowaki a "good boy!" for his efforts.

Hearing these words of praise from Hiro-san, Nowaki beamed and his previous shivers of fear turned into ones of delight. His blue eyes sparkled as he placed his large hands on Hiroki's shoulders and leaned down, nuzzling the man under one of his ears.

Hiroki tensed, unprepared for this act of affection. In truth this wasn't something he was used to in his life, even under normal circumstances. After a minute, feeling the youth's touch begin to rouse him, he put his hands on Nowaki's broad chest and pushed gently back.

"Okay, that's enough," Hiroki growled hoarsely. "You need to settle, Nowaki. Come on. Sit." He indicated the bath stool on the floor of the shower between them.

Nowaki drew back at the admonition, but he didn't sit. Instead he stared into Hiroki's eyes with such a blatant expression of happy gratitude Hiroki found it overwhelming.

It was all Hiroki could do not to drop his eyes, but he understood that despite the fact of his very human appearance, Nowaki was still much governed by his canine sensibilities. Hiroki needed to stay on top of things as the alpha, if he had any hope to maintain control of this very unusual situation. Realizing this, he hardened his gaze and held it until Nowaki looked down.

Then the dog-boy did something unexpected. With one hand he grazed his own jawline, his other hand reached forward and cupped Hiroki's. Nowaki brushed a thumb across his lips while the other traced Hiro-san's mouth. Hiroki watched transfixed as Nowaki's hands slipped in tandem down strong necks, slid over broad shoulders. Single fingers circled hardening nipples in a mirrored fashion and then became flat palms, settled over glistening pecs.

Hiroki's dark eyes followed Nowaki's mesmerized gaze as the youth moved over his body.

Hiroki knew, as with their hands earlier, that the pup was comparing their two bodies, understanding his own in relation to his. At the same time, Hiroki had never felt so revealed to another. Even past lovers had never read him so closely. His breath hitched. Hiroki's cock sparked to hardness, his balls quickened too as Nowaki's large hand slid further down his abdomen.

Hiroki jumped back when this same hand reached his cock, brushing it through wet cloth. Feeling its rigidity, Nowaki's eyes had widened with surprise.

"Enough, Nowaki!" Hiroki pointed down at the stool. "Sit now!" he ordered, his voice breathless.

Nowaki's gentle face crumpled with hurt, unsure of what he'd done wrong, but sensing by the tone Hiro-san wasn't playing, he dropped his hands.

"Turn!" Hiroki ordered. "We need to get this done and get out of here."

Nowaki did as he was told and then sat down on the stool. His concern for his unknown infraction dissipated, however, when a moment later, strong hands began rubbing a sweet smelling shampoo into his thick hair.

A pleasured groan escaped from Nowaki at this touch. He leaned back into to Hiro-san's attentions. Nowaki found himself thinking that this would be nice to do, _a lot_, as soapy hands glided over him.

Behind Nowaki, now that he was safe from the probing gaze of those keen blue eyes, Hiroki's blush had reached a whole new color of crimson.

_What the fuck am I doing? This is crazy,_ Hiroki thought to himself.

He felt his cock twitch again at the sensation of Nowaki's sinewed flesh beneath his hungry fingers.

_I can't believe I have a hard on for a dog._ But even as he thought this, Hiroki was painfully aware that desire was only the surface of what it was he was he had begun feeling from the first moment he'd laid eyes on Nowaki's human form.

* * *

><p>Bath done and beds made, Hiroki stood in front of his couch and a very mournful looking Nowaki.<p>

Hiroki's exhaustion had finally caught up with him and knowing that daylight would be creeping in through his bedroom window in about an hour wasn't helping his mood at all at the moment.

"One last time, Nowaki, this is your bed... 'Yours.' The one in the other room is 'Mine.' Now get in."

Nowaki looked at his fatigued person. "Mine?" he pointed towards Hiroki's room.

"No… MINE." Hiroki growled, reaching the end of his patience at last. He pointed to the bed he'd made for Nowaki on the couch. "Yours!" he said lifting the blanket.

Nowaki's smooth brow furrowed as he moved over and sat on the edge of the sofa. "Mine, Hiro-san?" he asked again.

Hiroki looked down on the handsome dog-boy: clean, shiny, and looking hot as hell in his boxers and tee-shirt. "Now you've got it," he sighed gratefully. "Okay, lay down."

Nowaki did, after twisting about a bit. Then he finally settled in, nestling his dark head into the soft pillow Hiroki had laid out for him.

"Now stay."

Nowaki looked at Hiro-san a moment contemplatively before a yowling yawn overtook him. He made no attempt to get up as Hiroki stepped back.

"Stay, Nowaki." Hiroki uttered softly once more as he flipped off the light. He turned and headed into his own dim bedroom.

"What an insane day," Hiroki muttered as he sank down bonelessly onto his firm futon. He himself had changed after their shower into fresh boxers and a tee-shirt. He shivered as the crisp air of the apartment chilled him through this light garb and sighed as he clambered wearily between the cool sheets.

_What in the hell is going on here really?_ He wondered on multiple levels. A_nd even more so_, _what am I going to do when Monday comes to manage this mess?_

Despite his mental turmoil, Hiroki found himself drifting off rather quickly; he was roused again before he completely lost consciousness, however, by a quiet shuffling of feet. He felt the covers lift and the mattress depress as a warm, clean-smelling body joined him.

"Nowaki, I said stay," Hiroki growled in the darkness, too tired to kick the giant, disobedient puppy out of his bed. He was surprised, when at his words he felt Nowaki's deliciously heated body press up behind him. A long arm draped over his shoulder and drew him against a comforting expanse of firm chest.

Hiroki sighed as he felt Nowaki snuffle lightly against the back of his head. "Hiro-san, mine," Nowaki declared rather boldly. Though his voice was sweet there was absolutely no question contained in his words this time.

Hiroki thought seriously about extricating himself from Nowaki's grasp and making the pup go back to the couch. He knew that with dogs one had to be consistent regarding bad behavior in order to correct it. Instead though, he closed his eyes and let the warmth of the dog-boy's long body soothe him. The fact of the matter was, that in this moment, Nowaki's disobedience didn't feel bad at all… in fact it felt really good. Hiroki found himself, against his better judgment, snuggling back into Nowaki's embrace.

Nowaki sensed Hiroki's capitulation immediately and was incited to one more joyous snuffle.

"Hiro-san, mine," he murmured happily against the skin of Hiroki's neck.

Hiroki heard the teen's soft words and something in his heart broke slightly at their innocence. He considered himself and his history with Akihiko_. If only it were that easy,_ _Nowaki,_ he thought as he drew a deep breath and allowed sleep to overtake him.

* * *

><p><strong>*<strong>**_Tabula rasa_**** is the epistemological theory that individuals are born without built-in mental content and that their knowledge comes from experience and perception. Generally proponents of the ****_tabula rasa_**** thesis favour the "nurture" side of the nature versus nurture debate, when it comes to aspects of one's personality, social and emotional behaviour, and intelligence. The term in Latin equates to the English "blank slate" (or more accurately, "erased slate") (which refers to writing on a slate sheet in chalk) but comes from the Roman ****_tabula_**** or wax tablet, used for notes, which was blanked by heating the wax and then smoothing it to give a ****_tabula rasa_****.**

**Resource: Wikipedia**

**Thank you for reading. Please review.**


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